All the Cards Fall
by Priestess of Groove
Summary: Two gunmen lash out at the lawyers of Pearson Hardman. This follows the event and the aftermath of trying to put everything back together. Chapter 9 posted this time.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Good day, everyone. I know I said in my last fic that my next one would be light and fluffy by comparison but that story, unfortunately, is not very well formed in my head and I'll have to continue thinking on it. This story is however.

**Warning: Contains violence, gory details, and potential character death. **I am definitely attempting to keep the gory details to a minimum, but you've read the summary, you have been warned. Also, it goes against the inner writer in me to forewarn you what tragedy befalls whom. _Read cautiously!_

__I also just wanted to state that I'm not sure if there will be romantic pairings but, if there is, it will not be Harvey/Mike. Not a fan of that pairing.

**All the Cards Fall**

**Chapter 1**

"Do you have an appointment here, sir?" The security guard at the foot of the elevator peered at the middle-aged man politely enough.

"Yes, my name is Simon Gullock. I have an appointment with Mr. Daniel Porter. I'm here to discuss my pro bono; my landlord illegally evicted me. I've got all the paperwork right here," the man said; he smiled wryly and held up his briefcase.

"And you sir?" The security guard turned to the younger man with green eyes and straw-colored blonde hair.

"I'm his son. Moral support," he replied briskly. The guard stayed focused on him, curiosity niggling at the back of his head.

"Are we good to go?" Simon asked.

The guard shook his head and looked down at the computer screen, scrolling with his finger until he found it. "Ah, here you are." He frowned. "You're about half an hour early."

"Traffic wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be," Simon said with a grin and a shrug.

"Very well. You can go up, but, I warn you, you might be in for a wait."

"That's fine."

Neither one of them knew the partners still had another hour in a meeting.

…

…

Harvey was desperately trying to pay attention to Jessica as she out-lined the firm's major cases for the next two weeks, but he had his own case right now that required his attention. However, Jessica had said to him that he better be there or he would get stuck with pro bono for a month. But why the meetings had to be bi-weekly, he honestly did not understand.

Everyone knew, however, that the primary function of the meeting was meant to be a reminder that they and their associate were not the only lawyers at the firm. It was useful from time to time to get a second opinion or pointers on a different way to tackle the problem, but Harvey's case was practically shut and closed. His client was an African American who came to them claiming the pharmacy he had been working at fired him so they could replace him with a white man. It really hadn't taken much digging to find two Hispanics, another African American, and even a Native American who had been fired under similar circumstances in completely different locations by the parent company. From there, it had been easy to convince the people to join the suit and strengthen their case against the company.

Harvey expected a settlement offer within the next day, but first he and Mike had been forced to deal with nearly a month's worth of court delays, feet dragging, witness planting, bribery, and trickery but now they were finally down to the wire. He had the evidence necessary to criminally press charges against the company for the bribery and all of its other illegal tactics and he would it if the company didn't step up to the plate and make a deal _now_. It was a shame, really, since Harvey loved to see these types go to prison, but bankrupting the company was, anymore these days, a much worse punishment than jail. He had already vowed to take Mike and Donna to the best restaurant money could buy, once the deal went through.

"Harvey, are you paying attention?"

He glanced up from his notebook from which he had been writing and said, "Of course. I'm just taking notes." The same sentence showed on five lines of the notebook: _All work and no play makes Harvey a dull boy._

She gave him a flat stare, seemingly knowing that notes were not what he was taking, but she simply said, "Good."

As soon as she turned back to the Powerpoint, he glanced at his watch. It took all of his self control not to roll his eyes; there was still another hour to the meeting. For a brief instant, he actually envied Mike who was reviewing his pro bono cases.

…

…

Mike chugged the last of his Red Bull and looked at it as if hoping it would magically refill. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before from all the files Louis had buried him in and the stress from the Wildeman vs. Brunscott Corp. was really starting to wear him down. And that just so happened to be his last can of Redbull; it looked like he would have to sustain himself on coffee the rest of the day.

"Aww…did little Mikey get stuck doing pro bono work while the important people are in a meeting? Harvey finally decide to kick you outta the loop?" Mike drew his mouth into a frown, but he tipped his chin back as a sign of confidence as he stared up into Kyle's sneering face. "Don't worry, he'll find real talent soon enough."

"Oh? Where?" Mike asked, making a show of glancing around the bullpen. "In you? Hah! I heard you messed up the filing of your last pro bono case and that's why Louis has you doing all the bitch work."

The sneer on Kyle's face morphed into a scowl. "You don't belong here, Ross. One day you'll figure that out."

"You mean when hell freezes over?" Mike asked, his own mouth quirking in a smirk reminiscent to the one Harvey wore.

Kyle's face only darkened and then he walked away to the copy room.

His and Harvey's successes were starting to lift him up from obscurity and the other associates attacks were starting to fall in favor of admiration, but mostly in grudging respect. Only Kyle, Greg, and a new guy named Sean really bothered to heckle him, but he could now throw it back in their faces from the top of the pile of victories he now stood on. Really, only Louis bothered him, in a poor attempt at reminding him where his place still was in the firm's food chain.

The feeling was gratifying. He finally felt like he was getting a handle on the work, turning what used to be several all-nighters in a row to just a couple of pretty late nights. He could do this.

He reached for his next file and was just pulling it down when several gunshots suddenly pierced the silence in the vicinity of the elevators, followed by several shrill screams. The file spilled all over the floor, but he ignored it as he jumped to his feet and stared out toward the main hallway, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. He was just beginning to wonder if he imagined it when several more shots rang out and all of the rest of the associates dived under their desks.

Mike stood rooted to the spot, his mind racing. He glanced down at the space under his desk and then glanced over to Harold who was crouched under his own desk. He almost laughed, a pathetic and weak sound which died in his throat. The desk could barely hide him. He didn't feel safe there. But then were?

The answer seemed natural: Harvey's office.

More gun shots and more screams. Shit! They were just around the corner. His decision made, Mike darted around his desk and ran toward the hall on the opposite wall and he disappeared around the corner as the gunman walked into the area.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: **Thank you, everyone, for reading and all of the alerts you put on this story. And thank you very much, all you fine readers who reviewed. I really appreciate it. ^^ But my lips are sealed on who will live/die.

**Chapter 2**

Harvey felt like he had been given a sedative. He respected Jessica but damn, she had been going on and on about the Saccarin-Dublin merger for the last ten minutes. It was set to bring the firm nearly fifty million annually, enough to pay all their wages and throw the usual extravagant parties and fundraisers, like a nice bonus to their already lucrative account.

The lawyer was about ready to start doodling ridiculous stick figures; he started the head…and then gunshots. He jumped. His pen ran a long mar across the page and he glanced out in the hallway. One woman ran past in a panic.

"Everyone remain calm and get under the table. Anthony, get the lights," Jessica barked out, even as she drew the curtains, she looked the very picture of calm. The rest of the partners had already dived under the table, but Harvey sat frozen with one thought in his mind. "Mike. Donna," he whispered aloud. Then he knocked his chair over getting up and lunged for the door.

"Harvey!"

He paid her no attention and continued sprinting down the hall; he didn't even hear what she said after his name. All he could think about was finding Donna and Mike and keeping them safe.

…

…

Jessica stood in stunned silence at the head of the room; two of the firm's partners had just run out into the hallway where there was a shooter. She had not anticipated either one of them – hell most lawyers! – not having a more well-developed sense of survival, but they were gone before she could even say their names.

For Harvey, he would be concerned about the safety of Mike, but most especially Donna. The kid was, without a doubt, the most promising associate since Harvey himself had walked into the firm, but he was still unbelievably naïve, but much of that was starting to transform into cautious intelligence and even a little bit more arrogance. She'd had enough dealings with Harvey to know the lawyer was fond of the kid, even if most of the time it was exasperated fondness.

Donna, on the other hand, was more like an extension of Harvey himself. She was half the reason why his career was as incredible as it was and in spite of all of Donna's own fierceness, Harvey was still extremely protective of her and it was known throughout the firm, that disrespecting Donna was disrespecting Harvey. Half the reason she was so scary was due to his protective reach. Their relationship was practically symbiotic: Donna kept his life together and he in turn offered her a very stable job and the protection that allowed her to help power his career.

Harvey _would_ play the hero and swoop in to try and save her.

But _Louis_? She had no idea what was going through Louis' head.

…

…

Mike stopped a ways down the hall, ducking behind a now vacant cubicle. The sound of bullets spraying had greeted his ears almost immediately after he left the Bullpen and he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes against the terrible images of his fellow associates all riddled, lying on the ground gasping. He was trembling uncontrollably and he forcibly clung to the last rational thoughts in his mind as his only lifeline; he needed a better place to hide.

It was then that Mike's brain caught up with him and he gritted his teeth. _Shit! _Harvey wasn't in his office! And the office was practically made of glass; he needed a better hiding spot than that!

_The bathroom? _Mike quickly dismissed that option. There were no exits if the gunman went in there.

_Janitorial closet?_ The firm really didn't have many around on the office floors. The only one he knew of for sure were in the main outer hall and it would be easy to check for hiding lawyers.

_The stairwell?_ It was, without a doubt, his safest bet, but they were next to the elevators. He would have to sneak his way past the gunman. Worst of all, though, he would be leaving Harvey and Donna to fend for themselves. But, he admitted to himself, what could he honestly do? Hopefully they were already hidden and if they were, he'd be risking his life looking for them for no good reason. He also had a feeling Harvey would ream him pretty good if he didn't take the opportunity to escape.

Mike weaved his way down low between cubicles and when he came to a main thoroughfare, he darted across like a scared rabbit. He came upon quite a few associates, secretaries, and another lawyer or two, most of whom he didn't know, crouched down underneath their desks. They paid him little mind, even when he whispered urgently at them.

"You should leave. I think they're shooting up desks," he said to one secretary.

She just shushed him with an expression of fear and panic. "Are you crazy?" She mouthed at him. "They'll never know I'm here."

As much as he disagreed, he didn't think it would be good for either of their sake's if he insisted and just let her be. He did convince a few people, but hardly any of them went the way he was going, apparently assuming he was an inevitable victim. Only one other associate tailed him and together they made their way to the stairwell.

Mike peeked very cautiously around the corner and found the hall empty. He locked his eye on the emergency exit door and tensed; it was not just a leap across the hallway, but in fact several strides down the hall. Just then, Mike heard another round of bullets on the other side of the building and he stiffened. Mike's companion took the opportunity to speed around him and leapt for the door. There was a loud rattling not more than a few feet away from Mikes hiding spot and the other associate fell to the floor, several splotches of red now spreading across his shirt and he lay very still.

Mike almost screamed in utter terror. His mouth was open, but nothing would come out and his fingernails scratched the wall as he dug in. Then he bolted from that side of the building to the other side, desperately trying to put as much distance between himself and the second shooter. He hit the other side of the building in record time, stopping in the other hallway to look on his left to find nobody and then he whipped his head right and froze.

A middle-aged man with graying hair seemed just as stunned to see him, and then he pulled out a pistol and shot.

"No – ," Mike raised his hand and started to say, but pain ripped through him and he stumbled back to fall on the ground. He clapped a hand on the wound and looked down at it, watching with horrified fascination as blood – a lot of blood – started spreading a gruesome stain over his ratty white shirt from the right side of his midsection. He glanced up at the man with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing as if he were trying to find something to say.

The man only smiled at him and then he raised the gun so that Mike was staring directly into the barrel. "I hope you burn in hell, suit," he said, his tone as cold as an Antarctic day.

When Mike heard the gun cock, he closed his eyes tight, feeling tears squeeze out to run down his cheeks and he hoped that someone would take care of his gram.

* * *

**I shall be spending my time until next chapter in a bunker, to escape all of the objects you'd like to hurtle at me. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: ***looks around at all the debris* My, my, Phoenix, did you have to throw so many things? ^_~ Thank you all so much for all the alerts, the faves, and the reviews. I love getting feedback on my story telling skills. Enjoy the latest chapter!

**Chapter 3**

It wasn't for the first time that Harvey cursed the building for being so damn big. He hardly ventured out of his corner except to visit Mike in the associate's bullpen and then also to random conference rooms and clear across the building to Jessica's office. But he hadn't taken more than a half a dozen strides when he saw a man walk out in front of him down the way with a machine gun and they immediately locked eyes.

Harvey skidded to a halt, which might have been comical under different circumstances, turned on his heel and just barely managed to grab the person behind him by the shoulders, and drag them into a side hallway. A spray of bullets passed them harmlessly and Harvey let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and then he finally looked down at the person he'd pined against the wall and stared. _Louis? What the hell? _He abruptly let go and straightened his suit. His mind was racing, trying to find a logical reason for why Louis would have abandoned the safety of the conference room. Then a memory floated to the surface: Louis at the shooting range. A gun. Louis might actually have a gun in his office! But the hallway to it was now blocked by the gunman. They would have to find a new way.

As dire as the circumstances were, Harvey still expected Louis to give him some snide remark about hugging him, but to his surprise, the shorter man only gave him a curt nod. Harvey nodded back and his focus returned to finding his associate. He ran further down the little hallway and turned into another interior hall to head back the way he had originally been going. He could hear soft foot falls and know that Louis was following him.

They slowed their pace and crept along towards the associate's area once they heard more gunshots erupt close to them. Harvey's blood ran cold at the sound. _Oh God, there are two nut cases running around with guns. Shit! _He needed to find Mike before the kid either got killed or did something stupid.

He could see the bullpen from where he was but he hesitated, unsure if he really wanted to see what had happened, but if Mike had been shot then he would need help. He darted towards the room, but was stopped by a weak, trembling voice"M-mr. Spek-ter?" He froze and looked to the side, shocked to find Kyle Mike's most hated rival lying on his back, his hands clutching at a wound in his chest and he could see blood dribbling down his mouth.

Harvey didn't hesitate. He pulled off his thousand dollar suit jacket, balled it up and immediately applied it to his wound; Kyle whimpered and groaned at the pressure but he nodded his thanks.

"Louis," the closer whispered back behind him and the other lawyer crept up, staring down at his own protégé in shock and dismay, but he quickly covered the expression with a certain one.

"Kyle, just lie still and keep calm. We'll get you to a hospital; the ambulances are on their way," Louis, gently pushing Harvey away so that he could apply the pressure himself. "I know you want to find Mike, Harvey, but please check on the other associates while you're there."

"Sure," Harvey mumbled quietly, crouching down again and peered out into the intersection to make sure he was not stepping in front of a gunman and then he smoothly strode into the bullpen, the area that Mike's cubicle was in. He stared around at the chaos of papers lying everywhere, struck all at once by the line of bullet holes lining down every single cubicle. Pained groans filled the air and he was almost certain he could hear someone crying. He focused on Mike's desk and felt his breath catch in his throat as he approached it, but he quickly skirted it and glanced under. Nothing. Mike wasn't here. He wasn't sure if that news reassured him or terrified him.

He finally turned to the other associates in the room, first starting with Harold's desk next to Mike's. He peeked around the corner and immediately drew back, clenching his eyes shut, trying to will the image he had seen away. Harold was gone. He went around to the other associates, finding at least two other dead ones and bullet wounds everywhere. Since he'd given his jacket to Kyle to use, he did his best to rip apart the associate's clothes and try to create tourniquets and bandages for them, but adrenaline was running through his blood and he couldn't keep the niggling worry about Mike.

He asked any of the associates willing to talk if they had seen Mike.

"Y-yeah, I saw him," Greg, holding his own jacket to his shoulder. "He ran out of here like a coward." He gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed at the memory.

Harvey glared. "Like you wouldn't have too, if you'd had the chance." His gaze softened when he realized he was lecturing an associate who had been shot, but then he asked, "Where did he go?"

"He went through there," Greg said, nodding at the hallway over his shoulder.

Harvey sighed. Mike had gone the way he had just come, but down a different hallway. Maybe he had managed to get around the gunman and was able to find a safe enough place to hide for a while. He went back over to Louis and whispered. "Louis, at least three of the associates are dead and most of the others have wounds. I did what I could, but I still need to find Mike."

Louis listened to him with a grim expression nodded and said, "You should go then."

The senior partner hesitated momentarily, taking note that Kyle's pallor had turned gray and he was not looking healthy. He didn't like the kid, but that didn't mean he deserved to die, especially so young with what would otherwise be a fairly promising career ahead of him. Fuck, he needed to find Mike.

He slipped off back to the direction he had come, considering momentarily of calling out Mike's name, but suspecting he'd end up luring a gunman towards him before he found his associate, so he attempted to check underneath other cubicles and desks. He noticed that many of the areas were empty, with just a few people who had unfortunately decided to stay where they were, but by far the associate's bullpen was the hardest hit place and Harvey wondered for a moment if they had been the intended target or just the unlucky recipients of ire because of another lawyer's case history.

He hadn't been searching for more than a minute or two when he heard another round of gun shots they had been going off periodically in far away parts of the building but this round was closer. Then he saw a man run haphazardly across the office with a panicked expression on his face and Harvey froze: _Mike!_

The lawyer almost called out to him, but he caught himself and sprinted down to the hall he saw Mike disappear down only to see Mike fall as an ear-splitting gunshot went off. Harvey's eyes widened. It was the man he'd seen earlier, but instead of a machine gun in his hand, he had a pistol this time and he was standing over Mike with an expression of disgusting glee and he leveled his gun at his associate.

Harvey was not entirely sure what happened after that. One second he was frozen, staring at the man about to end his associate's life and then he was sprinting down the hallway towards them as fast as he could and seconds before he ran into the man, his hand shot out to slap the gun upward.

_Crack!_

The senior partner felt the heat of the bullet as it grazed his palm and spiraled harmlessly into the ceiling, but he barely noticed the pain as he used his body to pin the other man to the wall and he latched onto the gun hand, continuing to keep it pointed up towards the ceiling. The man pushed against him, but Harvey held on, gripping the other man's hand with a enough force that he hoped to break his fingers. They were locked like this for what felt like ages.

…

…

…

Mike clenched his eyes and his teeth together when he heard the gun go off, but then he opened his eyes wide when he heard someone give a pained grunt. He stared. Another man had tackled the gunman just before the gun went off and was now grappling for control of the gun. He couldn't see the man's face, but he was wearing a vest that looked suspiciously like one Harvey would wear. It was then the man turned towards the gun and Mike saw that it was his boss.

"H-harvey?" He mumbled, not quite believing what he was seeing. He must have been killed and this was some twisted version his mind had conceived to make him believe he was still alive. _Except, when you die, your brain definitely ceases to function, _a small rational part of his mind parroted back at him and he drew in a shuddering breath.

He was alive. Harvey had thrown himself at the other man, at great risk to his own life, and that was why, now, he was still alive. Harvey had saved his life. Jackass extraordinaire, Mr. "I only care about myself and my winning record," best closer of New York City had risked his life for a former pot-smoking, pot-selling, college dropout who could very well ruin his career. His mind could not quite grasp this and all he could do was stare and breathe in shallow gasps, the bullet wound in his side only a pinprick in his dazed and confused brain.

The two men grappled for what felt like ages, but Harvey eventually managed to force the gun out of the man's hand so that it dropped to the floor. When the man attempted to go for it, Harvey latched onto his arms as best as he could and forced him down against the floor as well. Suddenly, he could hear a herd of footsteps marching down the hall when he heard a command shouted into the air.

"Hands in the air!"

Harvey rolled off the man onto his back and held his hands up, staring at the SWAT member with his own semi-automatic pointed directly at the pair of them. The gunman saw this and immediately reached for the pistol, but just as he leveled it to shoot in retaliation, another shot was fired, ending his life. The closer cringed away from the dead body, but kept his hands up as the man approached more softly.

"Are you hurt?"

"No," Harvey replied in a quiet voice, unable to speaking in the normal volume. "But my associate." He glanced up down towards Mike and then he scrambled to his knees and crawled over. "Mike? Mike?"

"Harvey," Mike replied. His eyes, which had been staring widely in the direction of the SWAT team member suddenly latched onto his. "You saved me." The closer didn't even have it in him to make a humorous quip and he just unbuttoned his vest to make another use it on a staunch for yet another associate. Mike flinched away. "But your vest."

"Who cares about the damn vest? An associate is even more expensive to replace than that," Harvey said as he applied the pressure to his side. "This man needs an ambulance," Harvey called to the SWAT member nearby.

"We have more stretchers coming. Give us just a few minutes."

"He doesn't have minutes," Harvey snapped, feeling his famous iron clad control of his emotions peel away like snapped violin strings. He tried to harness them again, to keep calm for Mike, but his fear was quickly growing beyond his control.

Mike groaned in pain, but he couldn't keep from offering him a trembling smile, even as his eyes filled with yet more unshed tears. "You saved my life. I still can't believe you saved my life."

"Stop talking. Save your energy, Mike, okay?" Harvey replied.

Mike nodded but stopped when it caused the world to swim in front of his eyes, but he adopted a calm and composed expression. He had never seen Harvey so readable and it was disturbing him that his boss' fears were being so openly displayed on his pale face. He was told to not talk, but was willing to do anything to possibly take the fear off of the lawyer's face and he said in a quavering voice, "I-I had been trying to go to your office, Harvey."

"Mike…" Harvey in chastisement, but it lacked the usual fierceness and energy.

"But then I realized that your office would be a horrible place to hide. I mean, glass walls? You gotta tell Jessica to reconsider that," the associate with a weak smile, hoping to inspire the same humor in the other lawyer.

Instead, he could have sworn he saw the color drain from Harvey's face and he whispered something quietly that, he supposed, wasn't meant to be heard by him, but it was not quite inaudible enough"Donna."

Mike tried to pretend he hadn't heard it but his mind had started racing. What had happened to the secretary? Was she okay? _Of course she was. She was Donna_, but she had been in an even more vulnerable part of the building, stuck in the corner with all the other glass offices. Had she found a safe place to hide? Mike wanted to hide his head in shame when he heard a pathetic whimper escape from his mouth and it was quickly followed by a question, "You think Donna's okay?"

"I-I don't know," Harvey replied.

"You sh-should go look for her."

Harvey didn't shift, but he applied even more pressure to the wound in his side which almost caused Mike to double up in pain. "No. You need me here. I need to be here."

"She-she could be injured too, H-harvey. You need to find her," Mike replied, shuddering at the cold air that seemed to seep past his suit jacket. When had it gotten so cold in here?

The closer was utterly torn. Donna _could_ be injured and she could possibly need his help, but Mike was lying on the floor bleeding and he definitely needed his help. But what if Donna died because he couldn't be there for her too? She had been a staple of his life for twelve years; what the _hell_ would he do without her? Fuck, he needed to go find her, but he couldn't abandon Mike. He glanced up in mounting panic and stared around as though he expected either Donna to suddenly appear, perfectly healthy, or something or somebody else to appear to look after Mike long enough until he returned with Donna.

"Harvey?"

He did not consider himself a religious man, but if he were he would credit whatever deity existed for answering a clear plea for help. He turned to Jessica who was running down the hallway as quickly as she could in high heels towards him.

"Jessica. Jessica, help help, Mike. Please? I-I need to find Donna," Harvey said, staring up at her desperately, looking for all the world like a little kid trying to find his parents.

"Of course, Harvey. A stretcher should be here any minute."

"Harvey?"

The closer reluctantly pulled away, glancing down at Mike, trying to convey what words couldn't. "I _will_ come back to you. I-I just need to find, Donna."

Mike nodded resolutely and calmly, but he couldn't hide the fear and panic he was feeling.

Harvey sprinted down the hall, his dignity completely abandoned in favor of reaching Donna as quickly as he could. He tried not to think of all the myriad ways Donna would be injured, but images flashed across his mind unbidden, even as he tried to will them away. He let out a breath of air when he found this side of the building empty of people and relatively damage free compared to the bloodstained carpet he had walked all over. However, his eyes widened as he slowed down.

Just like in the bullpen, the cubicles all outside of his office had an array of bullet holes all down their side and he could see that there were even two that had impacted in the glass of his office to create delicate spider webs. For the first time, Harvey was glad to be alone, because he trembled as he walked up to her desk, thinking of what he had found back in the bullpen. Of Harold. His stomach churned and he clenched his jaw to keep from vomiting.

_Just relax. You don't know if she's…she's injured or not. Don't just make assumptions_, he told himself but he found it difficult to remain optimistic, especially as he had spent his entire adulthood pretending to be a cynical misanthrope.

He came up to the side of her cubicle, drew in a deep breath, and turned around the corner to look. "Donna?"

* * *

**I'm hoping to keep a schedule of update at least once per week, but we'll see.**

***climbs back into bunker***


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: **Oooh, thanks for the gift basket, Phoenix. Turns out it was pretty necessary. And thanks to everyone else for all the reviews; I'm glad you're enjoying this despite all the cliffhangers that I'm pulling on you.

Nice to see Donna inspires just as much love in all of you as Mike and Harvey. =) Well, wait no further! Here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

**Chapter 4**

He saw nothing. His eyes darted around the space beneath, but there were no bloodstains to suggest she'd been injured. But he still had no fucking clue where she was.

Harvey pulled his head out to survey the rest of the area.

"DONNA," His shout was desperate and, he had to admit, a little shrill, but he was past caring who he alarmed with it. He needed to find Donna, for his sanity's sake.

"Don – " He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes and whipped around to look into his office, and then he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Donna peering out from the other side of his record cabinet. He lunged for the door and nearly pulled it off its hinges when it did not open.

She raced for his desk to shut off the magnetic lock. He waited as patiently as he could, no longer capable of making the logical connect that he could have undone the lock faster at her desk. He pushed the door open the second he heard the lock click; she met him in the middle of his office where he swept her up into a tight hug.

"Oh, Harvey," she whispered quietly, staring up at the ceiling from where her head rested against his shoulder, her eyes just as wide with shock and terror as his.

He trembled against her and whispered back, "I thought you were dead."

"Same to you, Harvey. I was afraid I'd never see you again."

He couldn't resist planting a kiss on her neck, unable to form anymore words to answer. He hesitantly let her go as she pushed to step away from the hug, but she didn't go far. She grabbed his hands and asked, "Are you hurt?"

It was only then that he realized that his hands were covered in blood. Mike's blood. He swallowed, then he stared back down the hallway as though there was something there she couldn't see. "Mike," he whispered so quietly that she almost didn't hear.

"Mike? Is Mike all right?"

Harvey gave the barest of headshakes, and then quite suddenly he was pulling her out of the office and down the hall. "We have to go back. Mike. Mike was shot." They jogged back to the center of the building. They came up just as they were beginning to wheel Mike to the elevator; the associate saw them coming and tried to sit upright but the straps and the pain in his side stopped him.

"Mike," Harvey snapped, far more harshly than he meant to. He drew in a shuddering breath and said in a much gentler voice, "You need to relax. You're only making it harder on yourself."

"Easy, pup, I'm alive. I'm okay."

Mike, who had an oxygen mask over his face, nodded in acknowledgement and then they wheeled him down the hallway.

"Harvey," Jessica said his name to get his attention, but he only looked desperately after the stretcher as it was wheel off, "I never want to see you, or Louis, leave the conference room during an emergency situation like that again. You could have both been killed."

The senior partner gave no indication that he heard anything at all and just as Jessica was ready to sigh in exasperation, he said, "I was able to prevent that man from shooting a killing shot at Mike. I'm never going to apologize for that."

They all watched them wheel Mike away until it finally turned a corner and then Harvey asked in a quiet voice, "Any news on what happened?"

"The gunmen got in because Porter's secretary had scheduled an appointment with them, but the secretary botched the scheduling – they didn't know Porter would be stuck in the partners meeting until it was too late."

"He was the intended target?"

"No. Footage shows that they took out their guns in the elevator and just started shooting as soon as they stepped out. More people were spared…this tragedy because they were stuck in meetings."

"What happened to the other guy?"

"He shot himself when SWAT team found him."

Harvey gritted his teeth, feeling a hot swoop of anger roll through him as he thought to what happened to the man who grappled with him. "They never intended to face the consequences of their actions."

"No, they didn't. They each had a machine gun and a pistol. When their machine guns ran out, they used pistols. They just wanted to hurt as many people as they could," Jessica said, her voice trembling for the first time since the whole thing started. "It's…it's not looking good, Harvey. A – a lot of people died today."

The senior partner was unable to say anything in return, but he wished more than anything for the opportunity to beat the two men to a pulp if they just so happened to come back to life.

After a minute or so, Donna tugged on his hand. "Come on, Harvey. You need to wash your hands and change your shirt. I'll call Ray while you're doing that." He allowed himself to be pulled along, trailing behind her obediently, her progress only stopped when they came upon the men's room and Harvey dragged her in there with him. She waited as he washed his hands, vigorously scrubbing at his arms as though he needed to wipe the skin off to get the blood off.

Donna merely watched as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed until she finally stepped in. "Harvey, flaying your skin off is not going to make it any better." Neither one knew if she was referring to the sticky feeling of blood or the horrifying situation they found themselves in. "Come on." She once again took him back to his office, where she fished out his reserve suit and then she called Ray on her cell phone.

Harvey nearly ripped apart his tie trying to get it off as though it were a noose around his neck, and he tore a few buttons off his shirt in his haste to get it off. He threw the heap onto the floor, unable to care that his shirt was bound to become a wrinkled mess. He treated his new shirt more gently, but he left the remainder of the suit untouched. What would he need a tie and suit jacket for at the hospital?

"Are you ready to go?"

He started and turned to Donna. When had he stopped to stare out the window and how long was he out of it?

"Ray will be waiting."

He nodded, unable to form words and he allowed her to take the lead towards the stairwell. They had to stop and lean against the wall a few times to allow stretchers by, but the people were already zipped into bags. Harvey's heart thudded painfully in his chest each time, thinking how easily Mike could have wound up among them. How Mike could still wind up among them. He tried to put it out of his mind and keep the hope that Mike would pull through. He had to.

"Harvey!" They both turned to find Jessica still leading the medical staff as though they were still the lawyers at her firm.

"Yes?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"I know you're concerned about Mike, but he's at the hospital now. He'll be fine."

Harvey blanched. "And how do you know he's going to be fine? He was just as seriously wounded as some of the others here."

"He's being rushed into surgery. He has a good chance," Jessica replied in a placating way, but both Harvey and Donna were giving her furious glares. She hurried on with her sentence before they could walk away. "What I wanted to do was to remind you that you are Harvey Specter, best closer in New York City."

Harvey blinked in confusion. "I didn't hit my head, Jessica. I know that."

Jessica appeared perplexed at his response, as though she expected him to pick up on a certain meaning, but she went on to explain, "What I mean is, you are my protégé and the face of this firm. I will expect you to help me manage this crisis."

He had fallen back into his stoic mask, but she could read everything in his eyes – his fears, doubts, despair, surprise but, most importantly his uncertainty. She had never seen him look so uncertain in the time that she had known him, not even when she first approached him about sending him to Harvard. Back then his confidence had been contagious and she had been particularly pleased at the ambition that shone in his eyes when she had initially proposed the idea to him. She had thought that he had goofed off a little too much, but he had still made fifth in the class, which was no small feat. He had matured after graduating, most notably though, after he had returned from his time under Cameron Dennis, but the confidence had continued to persist. Until now.

"Why? Why me? Why not someone else, like any of the other ten senior partners? Or Louis? He would like that sort of thing."

"Again, you're my protégé," Jessica replied, not unkindly, but she said it slowly like he was particularly dim. "Louis can't; Kyle died."

Harvey flinched and momentarily could not look Jessica in the eye. So the poor kid he'd given his suit jacket to and who had, on occasion, tortured and teased Mike mercilessly hadn't made it after all. He wasn't sure how he felt on that, but it was a shame no less.

"Tell him he has my condolences."

"You should tell him yourself. Now, pull yourself together. Anyone else would be expected to show their sorrow, but you need to be strong. I can't do this alone, all right?" She took the opportunity to place a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in a rare show of affection.

He slumped a little, resigned, but then straightened up with his mask fully latched into place. "What do you want me to do?"

"When the media greets you downstairs, I don't want you to tell them anything. We'll deal with that when we get more information. I really want you to talk to families at the hospital."

Harvey gave her a sullen look. "I'm not a guidance counselor."

"Neither am I, but they'll want to talk to an authority figure from the firm; I need to assess the damage here, so that will be you."

"Fine, but if I receive any updates on Mike – positive or negative – I will be cutting out to see my associate."

"I would expect no less from you."

This caused him to pause and he had to actively stop from shifting his feet. Was he becoming too predictable and soft? _What the hell do I care what someone else thinks? I am responsible for my associate's welfare and he got _shot_ under my care._

Donna prodded him. "Ray's been waiting, Harvey. We really need to go."

He glanced over at her, distracted, and he noticed a flash of anger and a disgruntled look on her face. He would have to ask about it later, but for now he had to focus on looking good for the camera; looks like he'd need his suit jacket and tie after all.

Fuck, all he wanted was to sit in Mike's hospital room and wait for him to recover. Now he had to be the pillar that everyone leaned on and he wasn't so sure he had the strength to manage it.

* * *

**Ah, no cliffhanger this time! Now it's pretty much just recovery from here on out. I hope you continue to enjoy!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Another chapter! Posted slightly early. I hope you enjoy it! =) Thank you all for the reviews and alerts; it's great fun to read your thoughts on how this is going.

I have hardly any medical knowledge what so ever, so I did take some creative liberties with a couple of medical conditions. Don't shoot me! I promise, it's nothing especially egregious.

Can't wait to watch the season opener this week! =D

**Chapter 5**

Harvey had anticipated the scads of ambulances and officials wandering around and even the reporters who were barely contained by more than a dozen policemen and metal barriers, but not on quite the scale he was witnessing. The entire block had been cordoned off to make room for the twenty police cars, six ambulances, the SWAT van, and four fire engines. It was all under complete lock down.

"Where's Ray?" Harvey asked, hoping he didn't look like a deer in headlights as he was overwhelmed by the flashing of emergency lights and the flash of photographers' cameras.

"He said he'd be on the east side, parked across the street. That's as close as he 's allowed to get."

He nodded, but just as they were starting to head in that direction, a paramedic stepped in front of them and she asked, "Are you hurt?"

"We're walking," Harvey replied, not even considering his response. "Treat all the people who got shot instead."

"We have to ask everyone."

"We're fine," he replied in a tone as cold as ice.

"Easy, Harvey," Donna said, unable to resist putting a hand on his arm and she turned to the paramedic, "We're not hurt, but we're heading straight to the hospital. Spare the ambulances for those who really need it."

The paramedic quailed under the harsh look Harvey was giving her but he could not seem to help himself. His emotions were all over the goddamned place but, by far, being and looking pissed off was far preferable for this new position Jessica had assigned him than the fear, confusion, and shock that were warring for control.

"Come on, let's go," Donna said, pulling on his jacket slightly to lead him off.

And just like that, the anger melted and he nodded dazedly at her. When he spotted a decent opening through the media people, he reached to grab a hold of Donna's hand again and said, "Stay close." Then he strode in, trying not to flinch at the barrage of voices that assaulted his ears. They tried to form an impenetrable wall, but after they refused to give away once, he shot them a glare and they peeled away.

In answer to all the questions, whether heard or not, was spoken in an authoritative voice, "No comment."

He thought he heard everyone fall back with a collective sigh but he paid them little attention and finally found himself on the closed off street and turned right to find Ray. The driver was parked on the other side of the street, as he said he would be, and after they shoved their way past another line of onlookers, they crossed the street.

Ray jumped up from where he'd been leaning against the car and pulled the door open. "Harvey, Donna," he greeted in a quiet voice and a somber expression.

Harvey could only manage to nod and then he ducked in, scooting over to make room for Donna. She gave Ray a small, sad smile before also climbing in.

The drive was completed mostly in silence. Donna noticed that Harvey stared straight ahead into Ray's headrest and she wondered what seemed to have his attention so transfixed. She'd always prided herself at being able to glean the exact words of his thoughts, but this time…she had no idea what he was thinking. His eyes were wide and unblinking – shocked, stunned, and perhaps a touch of fear in there as well, but his face was composed and unreadable. If she were a betting woman, she would put money down that his thoughts were with Mike and that he might be right now going through the endless possibilities of 'what ifs.' No matter if she were right or wrong, she had to pull him from his thoughts before he stewed.

She reached for his hand and squeezed it for the countless time that day.

This jogged his attention and he glanced over to her. She offered him a reassuring smile and was surprised at the look of devastation in his eyes. He quickly turned away from her, shaking his head, but the message was loud and clear: _Not ready yet_. He squeezed her hand in return as an offer of his own reassurance, but she was troubled. Harvey Specter was always calm and in control, even when a client was waving a gun at him. However, Harvey's control had been completely ripped from his grasp by this incident. From what she gathered, by his and Jessica's conversation, was that he had left safety to grab control back and, despite his best efforts, he'd still wound up with a seriously injured associate and now Mike's fate was completely out of his hands.

She knew, as much as Harvey denied it every day, he cared about Mike and considered him a friend. The circle was small – only a few people that she knew of – but he would be devastated if Mike didn't make it. Would Jessica then allow him to be a human or would he still be forced to play the best closer in New York? She never thought he would ever have to make that decision. At least not publicly.

They were both jolted from their thoughts when Ray opened the door for Harvey. Just as he was climbing out, Donna suddenly grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Hey, I know…it's going to be a few hours until Mike's out of surgery, so I was going to go change out of my clothes. Are we staying at your place?"

Harvey couldn't keep from quirking a small, sad smile; of course they were going to be sticking together for a while. "Your place is cozier."

"My place doesn't have Netflix on instant queue or a forty inch flat screen," Donna shot back.

"I was wrong. You aren't interested in me for my money. You just like my entertainment system." Their bickering was hollow, a mere shadow of itself but it was old hat between them. Harvey took it as a sign that they could eventually get back to their normal dynamic but those days – had everything been status quo just that morning? – felt light years away.

"I was never conventional, Harvey."

"My place it is then."

"All right. I'll be back in about an hour," she said, but there was an added message in her eyes: _Hang in there._

He nodded at her and muttered a thanks to Ray, who nodded as well before getting back into the car and driving off.

Harvey stood for a moment, watching them fade into the traffic before he turned to stare up at the hospital, towering before him like a monolith. The sky, which had seemed too blue from his balcony now appeared steely and gray, blending in with the buildings around it as though the sun had sucked out all the color. Slowly, laboriously, he began making his way up the steps into the building.

The lobby was packed. There were lawyers he vaguely knew already hugging spouses, parents, or children. They were all weeping and clinging to each other, some with tears of happiness, yes, but he had a feeling that quite a few of those were tears of grief. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt more alone in his life, with literally no one, at that moment, to stand by him in this onslaught. However, he merely steeled himself, set his mask, and walked straight in.

He was immediately accosted; it seemed like every lawyer turned to him. "Mr. Specter, what's the news? Hey, Harv, you okay? Heard anything yet? What's Jessica got to say?" He couldn't help but grudgingly acknowledge that Jessica's instincts had been spot on that he would be promptly considered the second-in-command.

"I'm fine," he replied in a much stronger voice than he was feeling. "I will answer your questions in due time, but first I need to consult with the hospital staff." They parted to let him through and as soon as he reached the desk, he asked, "Do you have any information on a Mike Ross?"

It took a few minutes through sorting paper and then the secretary asked, "Would you be Harvey Specter?"

"Yes," he replied and gave her a puzzled look.

"You're listed as his emergency contact. All it says here is that he's currently prepping for surgery. It's going to be a few hours."

"Any status on his condition?"

"No," she replied, but it was with a sympathetic smile. Quite suddenly, though, she shoved a clipboard of papers and pen at him. "We'll need approval of his surgery and his medical history."

Harvey stared at it as though they were foreign materials. _Where's Donna when I really need her? _He thought but he hesitantly grabbed it and stared at it helplessly, torn once again on what he should be doing and what Mike needed him to do. He did tell Jessica he would cut out on his duties when there was anything pertaining to Mike, but he hadn't the faintest clue about his medical history. It would be just like Mike to have a ridiculous allergy to anesthesia. But who would know for certain?

He wanted to bash his head into the wall when the answer came to him not ten seconds later: Mike's grandmother. But just as he started scrolling through his contacts, he remembered the reason he was calling and he faltered. He had really hoped that he wasn't going to be one to break the news to her but…it couldn't be avoided.

She eventually picked up after being transferred through. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Ross, this is Harvey Specter. I'm your grandson's – "

"I know who you are, Mr. Specter. What can I do for you?"

"I – I am calling to inform you that…there was an incident at the firm earlier today. Two men with…guns came into the firm and…your grandson was injured." He was terrible at delivering bad news. He wanted to wince at the way the words came out, but his voice was smooth and steady at least. She was silent – shock, he assumed – and he went on to finish. "I'm filling out the forms for him, but I have no information on his medical history. Would you know his information?"

"Of course, Mr. Specter."

"Please call me Harvey."

"Harvey then."

He started filling out the consent form first to get him into surgery. That was easy enough, but the medical history was a slog and he kept being interrupted by lawyers seeking information or families asking about loved ones. He had to put Mike's grandmother on hold twice to field calls from Jessica and to grab a print out of all the victims injured and deceased. He used to think himself an excellent multi-tasker – he could flirt, drink, and take a woman's clothes off all at once – but he needed a whole other pair of hands, especially since a crappy little clipboard was serving as his desk.

Then, quite suddenly, the phone was taken out of his hand. He jumped startled only to find Donna had returned to his side in a sleek pair of brown pants, a thin gray running jacket, and a yellow t-shirt.

"Mrs. Ross? Hi, yes this is Donna. We've spoken before. Harvey's pretty busy, so if you don't mind, I can take the rest of Mike's history." She at least had the courtesy to hold out a hand for the clipboard but he happily shoved it into her hands. Thank God for Donna. Normally he would plant a kiss on her forehead as thanks, but in such a public place where he was supposed to be Harvey Specter, best closer, he settled for a quick squeeze of her shoulder. Then he headed into the masses to do his appointed task.

Just as the day was heading into early evening, he was surprised to see Rachel Zane stride up to him. Much like Donna, she appeared to have gone home and changed into an elegant sweater and jeans, but he saw the same nervous and haunted expression that he'd seen countless times that day. He had never had any contact with her, only knowing her through Mike. Naturally, his hardass reputation preceded him and she approached him cautiously.

"Mr. Specter, I'm, um, checking on all of my friends and I was wondering, have you heard anything about Mike?"

He shook his head. "He's still in surgery as far as I know. Donna might know more," he replied, waving a hand behind him where Donna was sitting and reading a book. "But first…are you okay?"

She seemed surprised that he would ask such a thing, but it came with the territory. "Uh, yeah. When it…when it started, I locked my door, closed the blinds and hid under my desk."

"That's good." He wasn't sure what else he could say, but then he was yet again approached by another tearful family.

He saw Louis twice, but each time the Junior partner locked eyes with him, he deliberately gave him a wide berth. This was fine with Harvey. He was not going to make Louis talk to him if he did not want to. He nodded at him, but said and did nothing else.

Harvey had otherwise long stopped listening to what he was saying; it seemed like every few minutes the same words were falling from his mouth and he went through the same gestures. It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder that his focus lapsed and he turned to Donna mid-sentence.

"Mike's in recovery. He'll be taken to a room eventually."

He closed his eyes a moment to show his relief and he felt his shoulders straighten as one worry fell away. "Good. Let me know when he's available for a visit," he replied in a strained voice. _Is that really my voice?_ He shook the thought off and tried to continue, but Donna remained hovering by his side and, just as he was about to address her again, another hand fell on his other shoulder.

He turned to find Jessica on his other side with a pleased smile. Although his normal senses had gradually faded from him as the day went on, he still noticed that her blouse had changed to a deep purple one and, although, she looked tired and frazzled, her hair had been redone.

"Harvey, thank you for all you've done. You are dismissed from your duties for the rest of the evening," she said.

He nodded at her and turned to take a seat, wincing in surprise at the stiffness in his back and knees from standing all day. He slumped into a chair, blinking slowly in the fluorescent light. Donna sat next to him. Even as exhausted as he was, he could sense hesitation coming off her and, just as he was about to ask, she leaned over until her head fell onto his shoulder. Under normal circumstances, they were barely willing to sit shoulder to shoulder in public. _But, _he reminded himself, _these were hardly normal circumstances_. He relaxed, under her and felt his attention drift.

After some time he asked, "I don't suppose they told you when we could see him?"

"No," she replied in much the same exhausted tone.

Donna adjusted her position, brushing against his hand and then he flinched. Just like that, she was as alert as ever and she turned his left hand over to see. "Harvey, what happened to your hand?"

He stared at a reddish brown streak that ran diagonal across his hand where a few large and angry blisters had sprung up along the path. "A bullet grazed me. I'm fine." He tried to pull it away from her, she held on.

"No, you're getting a doctor to look at that. It could get infected! Doctor! Somebody!"

"Donna, I'm fine," he said again, once again trying to pull away from her.

"Don't you 'Donna' me! I'm not about to give you the chance to end up in the hospital too."

Now that it was late, most of the families were gone so they were ushered into a small exam room immediately. Harvey tried to make yet another escape when the doctor was examining it, but he and Donna held fast. The doctor dabbed ointment on it, causing Harvey to clench his teeth in pain and then it was wrapped in several layers of tape which he thought was far from necessary. Afterwards, they were advised to change the wrapping at least once a day and to come back if the lawyer started to feel feverish.

"We will, doctor, don't worry," Donna replied, giving Harvey a severe look but he ignored her.

Back out in the waiting room, they ran across Rachel who was wringing her hands and staring at them anxiously. She raised an eyebrow at them as they approached.

"No," Donna replied rather curtly and the paralegal shrank down.

"Don't you think we'd be visiting him right now if we could?" Harvey said with a furious glare.

When Rachel fell back, the lawyer couldn't find it in himself to either apologize or reign in his temper. Jessica overheard and stepped in between. "I know you two have worked hard and you've patiently waited for news on Mike, but let's try to keep from biting each other's heads off." She favored Harvey and Donna in particular with a stern look, but her words failed to make the scowl melt from his face. "Harvey, you and Donna should consider leaving to get some rest."

"No," they replied simultaneously.

"We're not going anywhere until we see Mike," Donna said.

"Fine," Jessica said, "but you're not staying at the hospital all night. You need to rest and clean yourself up. Harvey, promise you'll leave after you see Mike or I'll make hospital security escort you out right now."

His scowl deepened and he clenched his teeth in fury. "Fine!"

They resumed their seats back out in the lobby. Donna would normally rub his shoulders to help ease the tension but the public arena was stifling and she had to sit and watch him stew and fidget as they both waited impatiently for news on Mike. Thankfully, the wait this time wasn't long.

"Mike Ross?"

Harvey sighed in relief and stood up again, wincing at the way his back cracked and the way his limbs had stiffened up. He was really too old to sit in hospital chairs for an indefinite period of time. He, Donna, Jessica, and Rachel – who had sat next to Donna and pointedly refrained from making conversation with her – all crowded around the doctor for news.

"Follow me," was all he said and began walking down the corridor. They followed obediently for a few minutes before he finally opened a door and held it open for all of them to file in.

Harvey's eyes were immediately drawn to the lone figure in bed and he felt his expression soften at the sight of his associate.

"He looks awful," Donna whispered. Harvey discreetly grabbed her hand and squeezed it in comfort. He had to agree though. Mike's normally pale skin appeared to have been leeched of even more of its pigment, now appearing gray in the terrible light and they could see horrible dark circles on his eyes behind the breathing mask. Instead of a man of at least twenty-five, he appeared hardly older than a boy in his mid-teens especially with the way his body failed to fill out the sheets.

"He lost quite a bit of blood during surgery, so he's receiving extra units, but he was incredibly lucky. As it is, the bullet just grazed his artery and we were able to patch it up fairly quickly. He will make a full recovery."

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"When will he wake up?" Harvey asked,

"That…we're not sure of."

They all turned laser stares on him and he shuffled a little. "He should have been awake by now. An EEG shows only normal sleep activity, so he is not in a coma but merely in a persistent state of unconscious. It can happen after traumatic events."

"Any idea when he'll wake up?" Donna asked with more than a little frustration in her tone.

"It shouldn't be more than a few days and it definitely won't be…a month or more. He'll eventually get up to speed, but even after he does we would prefer to keep him here for observation for a few days." His pager beeped and he glanced at it. "I have to leave. You may be here, but try not to disturb him. Talking may help but he will wake up when he's ready to."

They filed in and once the door was shut Harvey snorted and said, "Sounds all like a bunch of bullshit."

"Harvey, you're not a doctor, so how would you know?" Donna said with a frown. "At least we know that he's _alive_ and _will_ make a full recovery. Isn't that all that matters?" She walked over to the bed and made to brush his hair from his forehead but then she stopped and gnawed at her lip. Even despite what she said, she wore a sad expression as she looked down on him. Harvey sidled up behind just barely touching her as he looked down on him with an unidentifiable expression. "Oh pup," was all she could say and leaned back against Harvey.

"Looks like we've got a long wait ahead of us."

"Oh no, Harvey, you're not going to sit here all night," Jessica said with crossed arms, somehow managing to look kind and stern at the same time. He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. "You promised, remember?" He huffed and was about to say something again when she said, "You _need_ to rest. Have you eaten at all since breakfast this morning?"

He closed his mouth again and looked puzzled, clearly thinking back to the last time he ate which had been…breakfast, if a couple pieces of bacon could be called breakfast.

Jessica nodded pointedly at him. "You haven't been home, you haven't eaten. I have. I can watch him for the night."

"Can I trust you to call me if he wakes up, no matter the time?" He said with a disbelieving look.

"Yes, Harvey, I promise. I will call you when he wakes up."

"No, if there are _any_ changes."

She shook her head in exasperation. "What are you expecting to happen?"

"Well, I sure as hell wasn't expecting gunmen to go on a rampage in our firm this morning." All the women winced at his words but he continued to stare at her diligently. "Promise me you will call with any changes."

"I promise. I will."

He studied her for a moment and then nodded and he turned to walk from the room, his steps heavy with exhaustion and worry. Donna followed closely behind him.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I have to do some serious work on a portfolio piece this month and the next so this story may be a little neglected, but I promise I won't abandon this. Thank you for reading and review. =)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Why thank you all for reading, reviewing, and putting this on your alerts! Glad you're enjoying the story!

It's okay, Phoenix and everyone who threw things, why do you think I had a bunker after all? ^_~

Enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

Donna watched Harvey enter his own condo and she couldn't help but note the stiff and stodgy way he carried himself, as though even in his own home he still carried the weight of the world. She thought that he had stepped up to the task of assisting fellow lawyers and families beautifully despite the aura he had carefully cultivated over the years. He wasn't expected to care just be there and act a leader in a time of crisis.

Even as well as she thought he did, she could still see the dazed and confused man she saw after hugging him. Now he sat on his leather couch staring at the space in front of him so she bustled off to make him a drink. Just one. He didn't need anymore, especially on an empty stomach. His liquor cabinet, she was surprised to find, was rather bare but she knew him to be a social drinker. Still, she could see the whisky, bourbons, and a couple of token bottles of red and white wine and, after a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the whisky and poured them both a shot glass each. When she suddenly appeared before him, dangling the glass in front of his face, he was unsurprised and took it and threw it back without any further encouragement.

Donna did the same and she winced and shuddered at the awful taste and the burn of it on her throat, but it warmed her when it reached the pit of her stomach, banishing the chill that had descended on her. She glanced to Harvey and felt her heart clench painfully as she noticed that he had fallen back into his thoughts again. She sighed quietly and stood up from the couch to attempt a final tactic.

"Donna? Where are you going?" He followed her as she stepped purposefully around the couch and she was perturbed by the spark of fear in his eyes.

"I'm going to make sure," Donna started as she stopped behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "that you're going to relax this evening. Now, that your job has temporarily changed to fit the context of the situation," she began rubbing his shoulders which felt like steel underneath his shirt, "it seems only fair that mine adjusts as well to help you meet the new challenges." He sagged beneath her fingers and groaned, letting his head fall back on the cushion.

He was quiet for a moment with his eyes closed. Just as she was beginning to feel his muscle become malleable, he opened his eyes and offered her a small smile. "How did I get so lucky to have a woman as amazing as you for an executive assistant?"

"Don't, Harvey," Donna replied, unable to return his smile. "Don't put me on a pedestal. I'm still human."

"This coming from the woman we call goddess?"

"You say that in good fun. But now you're sabotaging your own self-esteem. Don't do it, Harvey. You're still a great man and therefore deserving of a great secretary."

"How can you say that? I put an innocent man behind bars, I almost deliberately put an innocent woman behind bars without a second thought. I'm an asshole; we both know this. So why are you still around?"

"Harvey, relax," she said. He grimaced and exhaled in a shuddering breath, but he returned to stare up at her insistently. "You know those weren't your fault and when you realized your error, you fixed it."

He snorted. "Yeah, fixed it. I didn't question or wonder, just followed the plan and didn't give it a second thought."

She stopped massaging his shoulders for a moment and studied him. Under the impression he had won, he had returned to his stewing. On any normal day he would be crowing his victory but now there was only silence. After a moment she said, "You took a chance on a pot-smoking, college dropout and gave him an opportunity that he normally would never have. That's how I know the good man I followed out of the DA's office is still in there."

Donna studied him carefully as he absorbed this, feeling the tension and anguish he'd been feeling drain away from his shoulders again. Damn, his emotions were completely out of control.

He seemed to catch on her train of thought because he looked back up at her with watery eyes and asked, "Why the hell are my emotions all over the goddamned place? Why am I like this and not you?" He blew out a breath in frustration and vigorously wiped at his eyes.

"You don't need to be embarrassed in front of me," Donna said, bending down so that her chin rested in his hair and she hugged his shoulders. Silence followed as she though she expected him to fill it, but when he didn't she began, "I had been wondering that myself, why you seem more emotional and I think I have the answer."

"Do tell," he mumbled unenthusiastically, she knew it was the trauma speaking more than the sarcasm.

"I knew far more of the secretaries, associates, and lawyers in the firm. While we were never acquaintances, I could at least put their names to the faces. After…after what happened it all felt so surreal that when I actually heard the names of who died, I recognized it still but….it didn't quite click for me. I didn't know them well and, while it's very tragic, I have already in a way accepted what's happened even as it simultaneously feels like it's so far removed from me. Am I…making sense?"

"You did say surreal," he replied. "That hardly ever makes much sense."

"Right. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is…you actually saw what happened to those people. You saw…their wounds, the blood – " She felt a slightly shudder roll through him and she cut off immediately. She had hoped to avoid a trip down memory lane, but it was unavoidable to prove her point. "I didn't see that Harvey and I have a difficult time believing Jessica saw it all either. All I have are the names to their uninjured faces but you have…the memory of their last moments. I think if I could connect the faces to what you saw, I'd be a much bigger emotional wreck." She tightened her grip on him even as she thought back to their initial meeting when he had sounded so desperate and scared. "Then, if you factor in the anticipation of getting shot, the fear that Mike or I might be dead, and attacking a gunman even knowing you could die doing it…you shouldn't be embarrassed about being emotional."

Silence filled the apartment again as she allowed him to absorb all she said. Then abruptly she walked away to give him some time and opened his refrigerator. She rolled her eyes at the bare insides, but she had been expecting it; he barely had even condiments. She was surprised to find a giant jug of lemon-flavored iced tea. When the hell did he get that? And why? Regardless, she poured them both a glass. Just as before, he took it and gulped much of it down without a second thought and he grimaced just as he had with the whisky.

He got to his feet with a little more energy than she thought he had and he actually mocking tsks her as he grabbed her own cup and walked back into the kitchen. "Donna, this stuff is too sweet to drink straight. It needs to be diluted."

"With what? Vodka?"

He rolled his eyes and turned the faucet on and then when he turned it off, he started back to where she sat next to him on the couch.

"I do drink more than alcohol."

She tasted it and found it much more refreshing, but when she pulled the drink away, she had an incredulous look on her face.

"What?"

"Wow. Mike has worked so far underneath your skin you had to get a new drink to drown yourself in."

He smirked. "That's precisely it. Jessica would not approve of me coming to work hung over every morning."

"Because you're known to follow Jessica's rules to a T." He had nothing to say to say to that and so Donna ploughed ahead to a real issue. "But, seriously, Harvey, I saw dead spiders in your fridge because there's so little food in there. Do you just eat out all the time?"

"I haven't had time to go to the store lately. It's also difficult to cook for just a single person." The sentence trailed at the end as he intently examined his hands and picked at the bandage.

It was rare when Harvey brushed on the top of how lonely his bachelorhood made him. She was single too and she admitted to herself that while being single and independent had made her happy in her twenties, it was now a constant source of depression. No kids to play with, no husband to confide in, no significant other to just share a meal with, and no one to go to a bar with. Every single one of her girlfriends were married and most had kids too. Bachelorhood was slowly shifting from being a gift to the bane of her existence.

"Well, we need to eat and I'm sure neither one of us really feels like cooking anyway. Any ideas?" He was still not looking at her, but he made a disgusted face. Well too damn bad; he had to eat! "Chinese?"

He shuddered. "No. I really need to be craving it to stand it." She started to offer another suggestion when he cut her off. "And not pizza. We'll have than when Mike gets out."

She tried to hide her grin. Harvey couldn't seem to resist indulging that puppy's obsession with stuffed crust pizza every once in a while. That still left them currently without any food for them and she was about ready to smack Harvey upside the head as he quickly disagreed with every suggestion she offered.

"What are you in the mood for, princess?"

"Hey, I wasn't the only one who didn't want greasy hamburgers either!"

"Well, figure something out! You – we – need to eat. I am actually pretty hungry!"

"Something light," he replied. "Maybe soup."

She lit up. "That does actually sound good." She headed straight to the kitchen.

"Don't bother; there's even less in the pantry."

"How do you live?" He was right of course. She saw a box of saltines, a package of white rice and…were those Girl Scout Thin Mints she saw?

"The microwaveable soup cans go first."

"I bet I can go to Mike's apartment and find just as much food."

"Whoa, I eat much better than him! I told you, I haven't been to the grocery store lately."

"I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idea of you doing something so domestic."

"I've been grocery shopping since we met."

"I know," she said, walking up behind the leather couch and started to rub his shoulders again, "but that's just something I really thought you'd hire out now that you have money."

"Hell no! I'm picky about my food. I also don't have a maid, you know."

"They're generally reliable." Even she did not sound entirely convinced.

His eyebrows shot up. "Trust a complete stranger with my expensive things? To hell with that! I'll just clean."

She mock sighed. "That's what you get for not being trusting: forced to do chores."

"I will happily scrub my shower walls if it means my valuables are safe."

"Fine. At any rate, we need food. Isn't there a Panera down the street?"

"I think so," Harvey said, lapsing back into his morose mood.

"Why don't you change into some comfortable clothes and we'll go there for dinner?"

"I don't want to face the public anymore today."

"I don't suppose I can blame you. Fine. I will continue to be the most amazing assistant on the face of the Earth, but you have to at least shower."

"I love how our conversations always turn into negotiations."

"I will be back shortly," she replied and then she planted a kiss in his hair and left. Twenty minutes later, she was hopping into his glass elevator with a paper bag, riding up to his apartment. It had gotten dark while she was out, but up in Harvey's condo, she was still surprised to see how pervasive the light continued to be without a forest of tall gray buildings to stand in its way. She could still hear the shower running when she walked in, so she set the food on the counter and knocked on the door. "Back with food!" When she did not receive an immediate response, her mind flashed to horrible images of slit wrists and crimson water and she practically had to force herself to keep from opening the door to check on him.

_He may be in a fragile state of mine, but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt, _she told herself. _Harvey would never commit suicide and, even so, he has no reason to; Mike's going to live!_

The door opened when she was at the table and she was happy to see when she glanced over that he was in fact fully dressed and not walking around with only a towel on.

"You took your sweet time," she said when he finally sat at the place she set for him.

He ignored her statement and sighed in annoyance. "A sandwich too? I said only soup."

"What is that? Are you arguing with me? When are you ever going to learn?"

"I am always well-groomed and maintain a healthy weight. I hardly need mothering."

"Well, I say you do and that's final."

"And I'm not really in the mood for more bickering so the last word is mine. Argument ended," he said with a tone of finality and then he finally dug into his broccoli cheddar soup.

She rolled her eyes and would have happily retorted with something snarky, but his exhaustion was clearly catching up to him and she let it go. After he had a couple of bites of sandwich, he stood up and put his dishes in the sink and said, "I'm heading to bed. Feel free to stay up."

"I think an early night for both of us is a good idea," Donna replied as she cleaned her plate up as well.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feedback is most appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Thanks, everyone, for your reviews! It's always a pleasure to hear how you're enjoying the story.

Phoenix: If I hadn't dodged that cinder block, then you would never have known if Mike survived, and _then_ where would you be? I caution you thus: try not to throw cinder blocks in the future.

**Chapter 7**

_A great idea, _she thought. _Too bad it doesn't necessarily lead to sleep. _She had been lying in bed next to Harvey for what had to be hours, but even as much as she sighed in relief at the feel of his amazing mattress beneath her back, she could not seem to sleep. She even tried to empty the thoughts out of her head, but it was as if exhaustion had suddenly abandoned her.

And she was certain that Harvey wasn't asleep either. Either that or he was dead because she could not hear him breathing. She had slept next to him enough that, though he did not snore, he tended to breath heavy. Now, she could hear nothing from his side of the bed and he hadn't moved for hours. She sat up in bed to peer over at him without disturbing, but he immediately turned to look over at her.

"Sorry," she whispered as she lay back down. "I didn't mean to bother you in case you were asleep."

"I wasn't asleep," he replied. They were quiet again for another couple of minutes when he spoke again, "Donna, this is stupid. It's midnight and we went to bed at nine. I am not going to spend the next five or six hours staring at the wall."

"So what do you want to do, fearless leader?"

You know what sounds good?" She could've sworn she saw his eyes glitter mischievously in the dark. "Kentucky chocolate pie. I haven't had it in years."

Donna laughed. "Pie? You want to go out and get pie? At this hour?"

"Go out? We don't need to go out. It's a simple recipe."

"You want to make a pie?" He was already heading down the stairs to his kitchen and so she jumped up after him. "This is not a side of you I think I've seen in years. Do you even have the ingredients to make it?"

"No, unfortunately. We'll definitely need pie crust," he said, opening a cabinet and she kept staring incredulously at him as he actually pulled out a recipe box and then the card. He scanned it and said, "Yeah, I need almost everything. Will you stop looking at me like that?"

"I had no idea you baked," she replied, just shaking her head at him.

"I don't usually, but every once in a while I have to have homemade chocolate chip cookies. I know you feel the same way considering how often you like to bake when we're moving watching in your apartment."

"That's because brownies go with movies."

"Popcorn too," he replied and rolled his eyes at her as he held it up and waved it at her. "See? This is easy? Half a bag of chocolate chips, eggs, sugar, flour, butter, vanilla."

"What do you need?"

"Almost all of it. I've got sugar and flour –

"When did you last use it?"

There was a long silence and she looked up from the list she was writing to see him seriously contemplating the question.

"If you can't even remember, then we're buying them too."

"Flour can go bad?"

"Yes, it can. Honestly!"

"My mom never taught me how to cook!"

"That's probably a good thing."

"Yes! I've fixed dinner before and it was better than whatever she made."

"So we need everything."

"I have eggs!"

"When did you buy them?"

He gave her a withering look. "Last week! They're still good."

"You need all this? Harvey, this might be a trip for the morning with a full grocery list."

"No! I want it now!"

"Fine! No need to throw a temper tantrum. You can be such a child! Is there even a store open that would carry all of this?"

"CVS?"

"I'm not sure it'd have something like pie crust."

"Can't know unless we go."

She stared at the surprisingly excited smile on his face and she shook her head. " Fine. I'll go get dressed."

…

…

…

"That clerk is trying to categorize us and I don't think he can quite wrap his head around where we fall precisely among the people wandering around at weird hours."

"Who cares what he thinks? Actually, he was probably undressing you."

"Donna glanced down at her clothes, which were the pair of pants and gray hoodie she had been wearing earlier that day and she said, "I'm hardly rocking skimpy clothes."

"Yeah, but you're rocking casual clothes. Besides you're bound to be the most attractive woman walking around at this time of night."

She shot a look at him, but he was rather pointedly looking at baking mixes.

"You're here for chocolate chips down the way."

"Just looking at mixes for you."

"Let's get what we came here for. Remember, you wanted to do a big shopping trip tomorrow."

Once she grabbed the chocolate chips to get them moving again, he was surprisingly efficient and often just grabbed the first thing he saw. She followed him around the store and, for a moment, had a crazy thought that in some alternate reality, this is what the real Harvey would be like if he wasn't a lawyer: his hair was uncombed, his eyes a little lighter, and his laughter a little looser, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was absurdly fun watching Harvey Specter running around on adrenaline and soon to be running on sugar; there was an energy crash in their future.

"You know who goes to the story shopping for strange food at two in the morning?"

"Is this a joke? Want me to wait for the punch line?"

"Stoners. My roommate in college would smoke and then go through a box of cereal. My cereal! But it's okay, because I changed it to Raisin Brand just for her and she never touched my cereal again, not even when I switched back."

"Well, we're going to add another stereotype to that clerk's late night customer category: depressed insomniacs desperately in need of endorphins."

Donna couldn't keep from giggling, but she sobered quickly. It felt weird to be giggling over a spontaneous adventure that was partially started as a result of the shooting and, she admitted to herself, that she felt a little guilty for enjoying it. It was irrational; neither one of them had anything to be guilty for but her mind just could not dismiss it.

He noticed her serious expression and drew his mouth into a line. "It will go back, won't it? Everything?" He grimaced and she could tell that it was at the childish way the question came out, but she didn't think the thought was childish for a minute.

"Some things may, but most things have already changed. Including you. You might eventually get back to the original and fierce Harvey Specter, best closer in New York but…will you be as fierce as you were – "

"Or will I second guess myself?" He finished, biting his lip as he thought about it before shaking his head. "I don't know."

"In due time, Harvey. We'll all need some time to recover after this, so don't rush it. But remember: there is nothing that you or any lawyer has done to warrant this kind of violence. Any kind! You've done nothing wrong," she replied, stepping up to him and placing a comforting hand on his cheek. They stood like that for a moment and he leaned into her touch until she tapped his cheek and he was brought back to reality. "That's enough doom and gloom for both of us. You've got me craving chocolate now, so hurry up!"

"Well, let's not delay then! Goddess Donna needs her sweet tooth sated."

"You're the one who wanted pie!"

"Right. Does brand matter with vanilla?"

"You're at CVS! You're not going to find your high-priced gourmet vanilla here!"

"You think I shop at a gourmet grocery store? I wouldn't know the first thing to do with that stuff. You really need to stop making gross assumptions about my lifestyle."

"I call them educated guesses; everything else you buy is high quality and expensive."

Their bickering carried them all the way to the checkout counter to the acne-riddled kid who had been eyeing Donna. The kid slowly ran their items through slowly, seeming unable to keep from glancing over at her every once in a while. She tried not to notice, but Harvey huffed, "Listen, kid, either check us out faster or I will sue on her behalf for sexual harassment."

After the kid hurried along and they found themselves in a cab, Donna nudged him in the ribs. "You didn't have to frighten the poor kid. I bet you ogled hot women when you were that age. In fact, you still do!"

He gave her a wan smile. "I do not ogle women and, for your information, I've always been a gentleman when it comes to women. That requires far more subtlety than that kid will ever have."

"Well, I'm glad there's someone who's willing to treat us like people."

He glanced over at her with an expression she could not quite decipher but she had a feeling that they were suddenly treading into dangerous waters, but she did her best to ignore it. The circumstances were far too fragile to jump on mere implications of what she thought was in that expression. He needed someone right now; to leave him to his own devices could very well prove disastrous – not just for the firm or for Jessica – for him.

Once back up in Harvey's condo, he wasted no time in pulling out everything he needed and he slid a packaged pie crust down the counter. "Find a pan for that and crimp the edges."

She stared at it as if it were a particularly mystifying puzzle. "We were just discussing gender equality and you hand off crimping to the woman."

"Gender inequality would be if I forced you to make the pie while I sat down and played video games. I don't see that happening," he replied, shooting her a devilish grin, even as he measured out flour.

How about I go and play the video game and you make the pie?"

He gave her a shocked expression, "Hmm…I have a sense that you don't like to work in a team environment."

She snorted as he turned to walk away. He intentionally took her back to the time she told him of how she flipped a future employer off after a bullshit line about being far too independent for a woman. She had just grabbed the remote to start the TV when he said something that stopped her clean in her tracks:

"Admitting defeat already? I guess Donna doesn't know everything after all. I'm floored!"

"Wait, what did you just say?"

He merely shrugged with a far too innocent look on his face. "Nothing. It's no big deal. I understand if you don't know how to crimp edges; I guess I'll have to do it."

Donna drew in a deep breath and marched back into the kitchen and snatched up the pie crust.

"Oh no, Donna, don't lift a finger! I'll do it."

"Harvey, if you continue to goad me, I may be unable to keep myself from beating you senseless."

He tried to smother that irritating smirk of his to no avail, but he was distracted by microwaving the butter so that it was no longer turned on her. Donna glared at the pie crust as she fitted it to the pan, but once done she studied it mystifyingly and tried to figure a way to do the technique. Even when she was a little girl, her mother never actually bothered to show either her or her sister the intricacies of old-fashioned baking. The attempt was amateur at best and when Donna shoved the pan down his way, he sighed dramatically when he saw it. "I guess it'll work."

"Because you would know better!"

"Maybe I do," he shot at her with a challenging grin.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Your apparently amazing baking skills make better black mail material than gloating material."

"But women love men who know their way around the kitchen!"

"Really? You've told how many women about your new found skills?" She replied, crossing her eyes and trying not to grin. He was putting on a show, so she thought she might as well indulge him.

"Umm…" He looked towards the ceiling and hummed and then said, "Just you."

"That's what I thought!"

He simply smiled in response and then she left him to finish up the pie and turned on the TV. She glanced at the time on the TV and blinked a couple of times to make sure she was seeing it right: 3:22. Dear God, she was. She hadn't stayed up this late since just before Harvey had made Junior Partner and those nights were incomparable as they were spent tense and worried as they had both worked their asses off to help him win that promotion.

"What're you watching?"

"Jesus, Harvey! Don't sneak up on me like that," Donna said, jumping at the sound of his voice. "Aren't you still making the pie?"

"Nope, I mixed it altogether and threw it in the oven. It'll be about an hour," he said with a pleased smirk and then he slid around his couch to sit next to her. "So, what are you watching?"

"Nothing. It's your TV, what do you want to watch?"

"Most of what's on are infomercials at this time of night. Let's play some games. I have a bunch that I've been collecting but I've never had the time to actually play."

"Well, what do you have?"

"Call of Duty – "

"No guns, please."

"Duly noted. Cuts the list down quite a bit, but I also have…the God of War pack, the Orange Box – you'd really like Portal – and Assassin's Creed – all four of them – and that's it."

"I've heard of Assassin's Creed and that's about it. What do you want to play?"

"God of War."

"Put it in then." She eyed Harvey surreptitiously as he actually brushed dust off of his Playstation 3 and messed around with turning it on. He had something in mind to suddenly want to play a game, specifically that one, so she waited to see what had inspired him to finally play his video games. After a few minutes of watching the blood and gore fly from monsters and zombies she said, "You know, Harvey, I wouldn't have pegged you as the type to put up with swinging chains."

"Gee, Donna, you kinda axed all games with guns off the list."

"I mean, I'm surprised you'd have bought this because it doesn't have guns in it. Is it the gore?"

"Nah, it's not the gore and it's not the mythology, even though you know how much I love having my ego stroked of putting my classical knowledge to use, even though it has been a bit…eh…misconstrued for the purpose of this game."

She gave him a disbelieving stare. "You honestly took a class on Ancient Greek?"

"Well, Donna, those classes are difficult to avoid when you're forced to take such a wide range of prerequisites. I needed anthropology and Greek Tragedy, honest to God, fell under that."

"Greek Tragedy? Literature? You actually took a literature class?"

"You act like I'm allergic to reading. Do I need to remind you what my job is?"

"I thought your job was to strut around like a peacock and intimidate people."

"Now I'm starting to understand why most guys don't have women for best friends." But he was shaking his head and trying to stifle a smile as he tore yet another pack of zombies apart on the game.

Donna raised her chin up and stared down at him. "You have no idea how lucky you are."

He gave her an appraising look and then nodded quietly before turning back to his game. She sat back against the arm of the couch and pushed a foot into his side playfully until the next cutscene came up and he handed over the controller to her. "There. I'm a fair player."

She sighed and rolled her eyes at the obvious double entendre and picked up the controller to take off where he started. She jumped when he felt her actually pick up one of her feet and start to knead the bottom pads, but then he touched the deep ache that she had long grown used to and she sighed. "Thanks. I've needed that for a while."

He tsked her and said, "I'm not going to fire you if you wear flats to the office every once in a while."

"I like standing above Louis."

Harvey quirked an eyebrow at her. "I think you'd be able to stand over him even without heels."

"Well, I'd prefer to tower over him rather than look him in the eye – it sends a message that we're equals!"

He chuckled and simply continued massaging the one foot.

She continued playing until the next cutscene when she stopped to stare at the screen and she pushed Harvey's side once more. "Now, I know why you bought this game."

"A man can't enjoy bare-breasted women every once in a while?"

"You seem to enjoy them all the time."

"Well, naturally. Clearly this was an easy design decision; incorporate breasts and let it slip and all the men will buy it. Such a clever marketing strategy."

She sat up and waved a hand in front of his face. "You're not the demographic they're looking for."

"Oh nice! Appropriating a Star Wars quote for a jab at my age." He leaned over to her with a mischievous grin and asked, "So does this raise the ban on age-related teasing?"

Her eyes widened and she desperately searched for a smartass answer to give him, but then the oven beeped and he was distracted. She concealed a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted to hear were comments about reaching middle-age from him, though it was lessened slightly since she was actually younger than him, if only by a matter of months.

He came back with an even smugger grin on his face, if that was at all possible. "The pie is perfect. The crust came out okay," he said with a noncommittal shrug and she swatted him on the arm when he picked the controller back up to continue playing.

When Donna took her first bite of the pie – of which she grudgingly had to admit, it did look perfect – her eyes went wide. "Oh my God, I think I'm going to get cavities from this single piece!"

"It's rich, isn't it?" Harvey said, not even bothering with a fork and just bit into it like it was a slice of pizza.

"Well, it's good, but wow! Where did you find this anyway? Was it in the 'Book of Recipes for Simpletons?'"

"Hey, I bet I can cook better than you!"

"Sounds like a challenge! But it's almost 5 in the morning and we're already eating pie. We'll sort out the details later."

He mock glared at her before he finally said, "One of my acquaintances from Harvard is from Kentucky. Anyway, because I have nowhere to go for Thanksgiving break, he offered an invitation to his family's Thanksgiving dinner. I accepted and this is one of the many delicious foods that his mom cooked. I asked her about it and she said, 'Oh, it's really quite simple, dear!' And she wrote out the recipe for me without even looking it up."

"And you kept it! How sweet."

"Well, even you agree it makes for good pie."

"It does. This concoction turned out well, Harvey."

He rolled his eyes at the backhanded compliment and continued playing God of War. It wasn't long after this that Donna fell asleep from the warm food in her stomach and the oddly comforting sounds of the evil zombies dying on screen.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter; don't be afraid to let me know your thoughts!**

**I don't think I can resist a Harvey/Donna romance, especially after last episode. For those who are so-so on the couple, they won't become the center of attention for the fic. I promise. Mike's being brought back in soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **A thousand apologies for the uber-lateness of this chapter! I was inspired for an installment in my 'New Puppy' fic and then I was on vacation, so absolutely no writing got done. As a result, this chapter contains more content than I was originally going to include and you get a nice surprise! Enjoy and thank you once again for the wonderful responses!

**Chapter 8**

Donna cracked an eye open and quietly groaned as the bright morning light assaulted her eyes. She had a headache but she was almost certain she didn't drink the night before, but she still couldn't remember what happened. _Nothing a few aspirin can't handle anyway, _she thought to herself as she felt the pounding in her head increase and a wave of exhaustion fell on her. She tried to roll over and snuggle deeper into her bed covers, but her eyes flew open when her knee knocked something solid and heavy that was pinning her lower half down. She pushed herself up and looked down in disbelief and then it all came back to her.

After a long, sleepless night, she and Harvey had decided to wile it away with a silly adventure of shopping for ingredients and making a very rich pie, and then she had proceeded to pass out on the couch from complete and utter exhaustion. Instead of crashing on his own side of the couch, he'd decided to snuggle up with her, but he had stopped at her stomach and apparently decided to use it as a pillow. She desperately wished she could wriggle out from under him, but even in sleep he looked absolutely exhausted. She sighed in defeat and closed her eyes, hoping sleep would take away her misery as well.

Only a moment later, the loud ringtone of his cell phone cut through the silence and she winced as it amplified her headache. Ever the diligent secretary, she glanced around for the phone until she finally located it in a pocket of Harvey's jeans. She did her best to not disturb him, but as she shifted, he appeared so far gone that she suspected the building could collapse and he'd sleep right through it.

Donna saw Jessica's name flash on the screen and she answered it, "So, is Mike awake yet?"

"No, there's been no change," Jessica replied in a brisk tone, obviously annoyed, even if only slightly, that Donna couldn't bother with a proper greeting. "Where are you and Harvey?"

The secretary quirked an eyebrow and glared through Harvey's apartment windows. "We're sleeping." She glanced over at Harvey's TV and noticed that his stereo read 8:05. _I have to get more than three hours of sleep, _she thought as she attempted to dial down her temper. "Is there something you need?' She asked in a far more cordial tone.

"Yes. Harvey needs to find his way to the office for the press conference by nine!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Donna– "

"Why are you only telling us this now?"

"It was only just scheduled this morning. Considering he is an early riser, I thought he would easily be ready."

"Well, Harvey is in no shape to be speaking at a press conference."

"Please tell me he's not that hung over," Jessica said with a sigh.

Donna lost her temper. "You think Harvey just drowned himself in booze like an alcoholic? No, he had this horrible thing – it's called trauma! – he's dealing with it quite admirably, but that does not mean he's in any shape to make any important statements or face the events of yesterday. I didn't see you helping him with when you pulled rank on him and forced him to be some mediator when Harvey's about as good with people as a shark is with seals. What were you thinking?"

Her rage was burning fiercely now and she knew she would not be able to get control of it even if she tried and so she settled for just waiting for the tirade Jessica was about to unleash. There was a silence as she imagined Jessica attempting to channel her own anger and find the exact words to express her own view.

"Donna, I respect you as Harvey's secretary, but never forget that you are simply a secretary and no amount of loyalty to Harvey or information on me is going to change the fact that you work under me as much as you work under him! Is that understood? Now, wake Harvey because he is going to be here – "

The secretary jumped as the phone was yanked out of her hand and she saw shift up closer to her so he was a little closer to her face, but he was glaring at her and when he put the phone up he said in a biting tone, "Or what, Jessica?"

"Harvey," Donna could hear Jessica audibly draw in a breath and even out her tone. "There's a press conference to describe the situation at 9. I need you there."

"Why? What do you need me for?"

"Must I repeat myself from yesterday?" Jessica asked with a tone of disbelief. "You know why!"

"And I don't think a single one of those reasons necessitates that I be at a press conference, but I'll be there as soon as I can. And next time you call me just an hour before a press event, I'm hanging up on you," Harvey said, taking care to stare directly into Donna's eyes so that she would know the follow the same rule if she ever had to answer his phone again. She nodded to show she understood and he put the phone on the coffee table.

I'm sorry, Harvey. I shouldn't have let my temper get away from me."

She shivered under his sharp glare and terse frown which were mere inches from her own face, until he finally slid over and sat up on his side of the couch and then staggered to his feet. "Well, now I know why you looked so displeased when Jessica pulled me into helping her. You thought it wasn't good for my health."

"It wasn't," Donna replied, getting to her feet as well and crossing her arms.

He snorted and walked into his bedroom. "I'm fine, Donna. Now, I'm sure you'll want to get dressed and sit with Mike or otherwise he'll be all alone," he said, trying to hide the patronizing smile.

She scowled but held her tongue. He was avoiding the issue, but he was right in that she would not want Mike – whether conscious or unconscious – being stuck all alone in his hospital room during visiting hours. But no matter how much he said he was fine, all she could think of was the way he had screamed her name when he was looking for her.

"Think there's any chance I won't look like I was awake for a week straight?"

Donna was a little surprised he had changed into his well-maintained suits in less than five minutes, but even with his hair combed and his shirt crisp, as always, he was still a shadow of his former self. His laugh lines were a little more pronounced, but even worse than that his eyes were dull and bruised from exhaustion.

She grimaced. "I don't think any amount of coffee is going to help you."

"Thanks, Donna," he replied with sarcasm, but he was smiling. "We better get going. Call me if you have any updates on Mike."

…

…

…

"Donna? Wow, you look tired. Did you and Harvey have…an eventful night?"

"Don't even go there," she grumbled as she shifted in the hospital chair attempting to get comfortable. "Nothing of the sort happened."

"Kept up from…yesterday?" Rachel asked as she took a seat next to her.

"Yes," Donna replied, staring dully over at Mike. "Usually I can still function after one sleepless night, but both Harvey and I are just beat."

"Where is he?"

"Press conference," she said and she pursed her lips and glared.

Rachel stared at her with a mixture of surprise and amusement. "Whoa, are you okay?"

"As well as I can be. Harvey should not be there! He got less than two hours of sleep, but he looks like he hasn't slept in days." Donna huffed and again said, "He shouldn't be there."

"You think he's doing okay?"

"He's acting like he's fine, but he's not." Rachel didn't say anything, but the unspoken question hung in the air. "You didn't see him after it was all done, but I hope I never see him like that again."

"I heard him, I think. Someone called your name, but it didn't sound like him."

"It was him," Donna replied solemnly, effectively bringing the topical to a close. She glanced over at Mike who continued to sleep, oblivious to the world, and she grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Come on, pup, please come back. Worry lines are unbecoming of me."

"Has he woken at all?"

Donna shook her head and had to force herself from biting her lip nervously.

"He'll be all right. The doctor did say it might be a day or two."

"I know," Donna replied, deciding to swallow the thought that he might never wake up. She had no idea what she and Harvey do if that were the case.

…

…

…

"So what did you need for me?" Harvey griped at Jessica as she gave him the stink eye. He was personally impressed that he was only five minutes late; Ray definitely needed a bonus for that effort.

"You're an important figure in the firm. Your face is crucial to almost all media coverage."

"Which would make me your parrot then?" He asked, staring up at her with a jaunty cock of his head as he squinted at her behind a pair of sunglasses.

"I would hardly call you a parrot," Jessica replied diplomatically, but he knew that it was exactly what she was hoping for. It was also exactly what she was not likely to get.

"I'm not the one who's been talking with the police investigators, the medical personnel, or the construction workers who are going in to replace everything in our office – which, by the way, you're going to tell me when they want to work on my office; no one touches my records or my record player – and I'm not in human resources for a reason," he spoke to her quietly through gritted teeth, trying not to attract anymore media attention than he had already.

"You're powerful, you're strong, and, unfortunately, you're the symbol of Pearson Hardman's prosperity. The other law firms need to know this or they'll try to pick us off. Best not give them that chance."

"I'm sure those other law firms would see my empty words for what they are. We're vulnerable, Jessica, as long as Pearson Hardman's offices are shut down for repair. Our clients may sympathize with the situation, but it won't prevent them from bailing on us while we're stuck in limbo."

"That's my job, Harvey. I'm going to do my best and keep everyone happy, but do me a favor and look after your own clients."

"I don't need to; I'm the best," Harvey replied, but for once it was without his usual smug smirk. Then he motioned to where all the cameras and the podium are. "I'll do this for you, but nothing else." Then he spoke even more quietly so that his words were barely audible. "Even I have limits." There was a moment as Jessica really seemed to look at him for the first time since the shooting happened and then he broke the silence again, "All right, let's get the show started."

…

…

…

"How's he doing?"

Both Rachel and Donna yelped or gasped in surprise at the sudden intrusion and they both turned to glare over at Harvey who appeared just as startled as they were.

"Jesus, Harvey, don't sneak up on us like that!"

"I thought you knew I was here," he replied in the way of an apology. "I'll be sure to stomp like an elephant next time."

"Not all of us are ghosts, Harvey," Donna retorted, throwing a small backpack at his face that he only just managed to catch.

"A lame dig at my name and now the backpack thrown in my face to make up for it. Am I off the hook now?"

"Just go change."

Rachel watched him go with something akin to awe as he actually walked out with a nod at them and then she turned to Jessica. "I'm getting a sense that he's not the leader in this relationship."

"He's my puppet," Donna said. "He looks big and strong and fierce – and he is! – but he couldn't manage his life well enough on his own to make junior partner."

"Ooh, Donna, I think I hear rebellion in your heart. What does he do to keep this quiet?"

"What can he do? His life would lose all meaning and sense of purpose if he fired me. He's completely at my mercy," Donna replied with the first real smile and twinkle in her eye since Rachel had found her in Mike's room earlier that morning.

"I wouldn't gloat so much about your power now that you've chewed out Jessica. She was still angry when I left," Harvey said outside the door, reappearing wearing his every annoying smirk, a pair of jeans, and his black button down shirt.

Donna's pleased smile fell off as he slid past her and Rachel to take the empty chair on her other side. "I told Jessica I won't be doing any more work for her, so we can lay low a couple of weeks. She'll be diffused by the time we get back to work and she won't fire you."

"Is there really any danger of that?" She was staring at him with one eyebrow raised, but the joking tone from earlier had evaporated.

He stared back for a moment with his mask latched firmly into place and, for once, she had difficulty reading him. Then she could see the quirk of his lips into a ghost of a smile and he shook his head. "No, there's no danger of that."

If Rachel hadn't been in the room, she would have grabbed his hand and squeezed it affectionately. Just as surely as he'd tied Mike's career to his, he had just as easily tied it to her. Then the serious atmosphere disappeared and Harvey slumped in his chair and stared in annoyance at the pale, skinny man on the bed. "Will you hurry and wake up, Mike? I'd rather sleep in my bed and not a hospital chair."

"Go on, Harvey, keep lecturing him. That's bound to wake him up."

"He should have been awake by now. He might find it familiar and comforting to hear me lecturing him anyway."

"Well, at least try to get rid of that moodiness for when he's actually woken up. He might think you don't care."

"I don't care!"

"As evidenced by you sitting vigil next to his bed despite the fact that you got less than two hours of sleep and were bitching about wanting a bed."

"Except I know for a fact you'd threaten either horrible disfigurement or eternal embarrassment if I did otherwise. It's a lose-lose!"

"You do catch on quick and we have come full circle again to the fact that I clearly hold the power in this relationship."

"I bring in the money. It's fifty-fifty."

There was a moment of silence. "I could have been a lawyer."

"Yes, _just as good_."

"Damn right."

Harvey snorted. "No one's better than me."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I will. Now I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when you're ready to go to the grocery store. And make a list!"

"I am getting paid for this right?"

"I'm buying your food for the next week. That should be payment enough."

"Toss in Tiffany's jewelry and I would agree."

"I guess Mike's just going to have to starve when he gets out of the hospital then." He cracked an eye open to see her scowling at her Crossword.

"I'll make a list."

"Good. Try to put more than vegetables and fruits, all right?"

"Slave driver," she grumbled as he slumped down even further into his chair so that he could use the back as a pillow. He fell asleep in a matter of seconds and then his head lolled to the side, brushing her shoulder.

Donna suddenly jumped at a quiet giggle.

"You two are one of a kind. I was wondering what in the hell you saw in him to be so loyal, but now I think I can see," Rachel said as she grinned conspiratorially at Donna. "He's just like you. Strikes fear in the hearts and minds of everyone around him but, deep down, he's not much different from you after all."

"He better not catch you saying that or he'll do his best to change your mind," the secretary replied after she dug into her purse and took out a list pad. "In fact, it would be safest to keep that to yourself."

"You won't catch me saying anything, Donna, but, you have to admit, it's practically screamed to the firm everyday he keeps Mike around."

"You don't have to tell me, but he's still in denial," she said, glancing over at Harvey with a fond smile. "Now, can you help me think of things to eat?"

"Umm…Mike accused me of being a foodie, so Harvey probably wouldn't like my ideas either. Does he like spinach on pizza?"

"I don't think he'll eat spinach, period. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure he lives off fast food, sandwiches, and soup."

"I don't understand how you can go so long in life with just the same food."

"Harvey's interest is more in his work than his food."

"But variety is the spice of life!"

"Pick the argument with him, not me. I'll think of a few things. Lasagna. Last time I cooked dinner for Harvey he loved it."

Conspiring on possible foods to buy went on for another hour, then when the list was done the conversation drifted into books that they had read. They were discussing the finer points of _The Hunger Games_ when a noise at the door caught their attention and they turned and were surprised to find Louis leaning into the room.

"How is he?" The junior partner asked, just nodding towards the bed.

"He should make a full recovery, but he hasn't woken up yet," Donna replied, her eyes drifting back over to the puppy, who hadn't even so much as shifted and she sighed heavily. When she turned back to the door to talk to Louis, he was already gone and she sat back in her chair. "Well, that was odd."

"He's been avoiding most people. I think he was talking with some parents of a few of the associates, but other than that he has been purposely disappearing when anyone has come near him. I guess…he wants to cope alone."

"Everyone has their various methods. Harvey _would_ cope alone if I let him."

Rachel waited as though she expected Donna to expand on that, but nothing forthcoming came and just as she was about to start up another topic of conversation, she saw Harvey stir and stretch.

"What time is it?"

"It's noon." Harvey groaned. "You were asleep for about an hour and a half."

"These chairs are awful. Got the grocery list? Want to go shopping," he asked in his usual smooth voice, despite having been asleep.

"I suppose we might as well. Mike hasn't made any move since we got here and I'm sure we would prefer to sit with him when he's awake than be shopping."

"Right. I'll call Ray."

"You have my cell number, right?" Donna said, turning to Rachel.

"Yeah, I'll call if Mike wakes up."

…

…

…

"Do you think you put enough food on the list? We could disappear into a bunker for at least a month," Harvey said as he examined the list. He held his hand out for an unspoken request of a pen and then wrote a few things down that he knew he wanted.

"I know how much you and Mike can eat. This food will last us about a week, now will you give me the list, I'm trying to find what I want."

"It's my food in my condo! I should be picking the food!"

"You cooking it then?"

"I did say I could cook, I just rarely have the time."

"Well, I cook regularly, so I am not out of practice. That lasagna is mine, so I'm getting the ingredients that _I_want."

He rolled his eyes at her but gave her back the list. "Need me to get anything?"

"Maybe later," she said absentmindedly as she looked at the sauces available.

…

…

…

The first thing Mike noticed was the beeping of his heart monitor. He was clued in almost immediately to his location, which was then confirmed by all the various tubes and straps that he felt on his arms. He was surprised to feel his brain appeared alert and ready for action, but his limbs felt sluggish and heavy and it took a great effort to open his eyes. He turned to his side and was surprised to find just Rachel sitting by his bed, currently immersed in a book.

"Rachel?" He called her name in a voice as sluggish and heavy as the rest of him.

"Mike!" Her face lit up into a big smile and she immediately set her book aside and pulled up closer to his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Where are Harvey and Donna?"

"Oh, Mike, they left just half an hour ago," Rachel replied with a simultaneously pained and amused expression. "They had to go grocery shopping so you wouldn't starve when they finally discharged you. Don't worry, they'll be back soon! The doctor said he'd like to examine you when you woke up, so I'll go and call them when the doctor gets here." She pressed the call button.

"How are you? Were you…were you hurt?" Mike asked, not even bothering to hide that he was scanning her body for signs of injury.

"I'm fine, Mike. I had a good hiding spot, so no one found me and I didn't get hurt."

"How's Harvey? Donna?"

"They're fine too. They were just worried about you." She hesitated a moment, glancing over to the door as though she expected to find an eavesdropper, but she lowered her voice and said, "You didn't hear this from me, but I think Harvey's…a little off balance. I don't think he's been quite right after what happened, but he's got Donna and she's keeping a close eye on him."

"Yeah, Donna's good at that. So Mr. I-don't-care was in here and worried about me?"

"He definitely cares, Mike. Don't doubt that."

"I'm not, I just know though that he was probably going on about how I'm a bigger liability than I'm worth and he's only in the room because it would reflect poorly on him to not attend my hospital bed."

"Something like that," Rachel said with a grin. "Donna pretty well shut him down though. Oh, don't take anything too hard if he comes back and he's grumpy. He apparently didn't sleep much at all last night."

"Thanks, Rachel," he said and just then the doctor came walking in.

"Mr. Ross, how are you doing?"

"All right. I don't feel much pain."

"Well, that's good. You seem to be doing well. I just want to do a few tests with you to make sure that's the case."

"I'll call Donna and Harvey now," Rachel said, waving her phone at Mike and exiting the room.

…

…

…

"What do you think Mike would like?" Harvey asked, looking at the soup cans in his hands.

"I think Mike will eat whatever you put in front of him. Well, unless Rachel's cooking," Donna said as she reexamined the list and Harvey put in a couple of the microwaveable soup cans. He raised an eyebrow at her and she expanded, "Rachel's a foodie."

"Has weird tastes then?"

"Spinach on pizza."

"Eww."

"I figured you would object to her food ideas."

Suddenly Donna's phone rang and she felt anxiety gnaw at her stomach when she saw it was the very subject of their conversation. "Rachel, how's Mike?"

"He's awake!"

"Mike's awake," Donna said to Harvey. He abandoned looking at the cracker brands and, although he did not snatch from the phone in her hand, he got up as close as he could as though he thought he could eavesdrop on the conversation. She elbowed him for some space and put the phone on speaker. "When did he wake up?"

"Just a few minutes ago. He asked for you two."

"Of course he wakes up once we decide to do something productive," Harvey grumped. "That weasel."

"Harvey, knock it off! Do you really want Mike to hear you?"

"He won't care!"

"He's being checked by the doctor right now, so I'm waiting outside. He knows you're food shopping."

"How did he seem?"

"Really alert. I was surprised, but his coordination is a little off."

"It's probably just the pain killers."

"Yeah, that's what I think. You don't have to rush to see him. He might fall back asleep while you're gone."

"The hell we won't. Donna, can you do speed shopping?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

"Let's try to be out here in twenty minutes."

"Challenge accepted. Go get your items!"

…

…

…

Harvey was storming down the hall of the hospital nearly two hours later with Donna jogging behind him to keep up and when they entered Mike's hospital room, they found him lying as he had been when they left with his eyes closed.

"Damn it," Harvey hissed between clenched teeth. "He's asleep again!"

"He'll be awake soon, I'm sure," Rachel said. "It did take you a while to get here. What happened?"

"Checkout happened," Donna replied sourly as they both filed into the room and took their seats from earlier. "Some stupid woman couldn't get her crap together and she was still being checked out fifteen minutes later."

"Dumb bitch," Harvey said.

"Harvey, come on, don't resort to name calling. Anyway, Harvey got her moving a little faster after reaming her out and adding in the tragic story of how his little brother who had been in a coma for two years had finally woken up and he needed to be at the hospital."

"Oh yes, two years. That is tragic," Rachel replied, trying hard not to break into a grin.

"It was quite tragic, but it got her going. Then Ray had to drop us off at Harvey's condo so that we could put away the food, and then finally we got into the car to come back here. That's why it took us so long to get back."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about not being here. I have a feeling Mike won't be out for much longer since he just woke up from a long sleep," Rachel said.

It was only fifteen minutes later or so, when they saw Mike's eyelids fluttering again and he sat up almost immediately upon seeing Harvey and Donna and he grinned. "Harvey, Donna!"

"Puppy," Donna cried and stood up to give him a loose hug. "You had us so worried, Mike! Try not to do that ever again."

"Sorry, Donna, but I can't control how long I sleep."

"That's because you have a crappy internal alarm," Harvey spoke up. "Can't wake up on time for work and you also apparently can't wake up in the expected time at the hospital."

"I think it's a little different, Harvey," Mike said, but he was grinning cheekily at him. "Rachel wasn't kidding though, you do look really tired. Both of you."

"Hmmph! We were worried about you in the hospital!"

"Speak for yourself. She was worried about you in the hospital and so, of course, I couldn't sleep."

"I'm sure, Harvey. You're so clearly not the caring type, what with risking your life to save mine and all," Mike replied with a shake of his head and a knowing expression on his face that suggested Harvey might as well drop the act, because he definitely did not believe it anymore.

"I had to protect my investment!"

Mike snorted.

A comfortable silence fell in the room and it was broken later by Harvey who was staring at him with a curious expression. "How're you feeling?"

"They've got me on some quality drugs. I'm not fired am I?"

"It's medically issued, so I think you're safe," Harvey replied with a roll of his eyes.

He watched with some concern as Mike suddenly deflated and just as he was about to ask what was wrong, his associate said, "They want to keep me here for observation overnight, because it took me so long to wake up. I don't want to be here any longer."

"You need to listen to the doctor, Mike. We'd prefer you be perfectly healthy before you leave the hospital," Donna said, patting his hand in comfort.

"Mike, are you hungry? I've got the ad of the place you get your favorite stuffed crust pizza from."

He would deny it to his last breath, but the kid actually caused his earlier temper to disappear as his eyes lit up in excitement.

* * *

**Mike's awake! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Edit: Okay, I definitely posted Chapter 9. Fanfiction must have screwed something up. Here's the actual chapter!**

**Author's Note: Thank you Shy Reader, Phoenix, and peachMikey for your reviews. They were encouraging at this busy time. =) I am sorry to inform everyone that this story will unfortunately take a back burner now that my portfolio due date is just around the corner. From next chapter onward, Mike shall feature heavily!**

**Slight Warning for this chapter: Beware of violence and some intensity.**

**Chapter 9**

Donna glanced up from where she was sitting in the living room to look at Harvey once in a while, but he never even so much as shifted. After the pizzas had come and they all ate more than they should, since they skipped breakfast and lunch, the pizza had worked a sedative effect on her and Harvey.

Their half of the conversation had long since stopped as they dozed in their chairs until Mike prodded them awake and begged them to go home.

"But it's only 6 o'clock. We can stay until eight," Harvey said in what was supposed to be a reassuring way, but he continued to close his eyes for long periods before he seemed to force them back open by pure will alone.

Mike gave him a bland look. "I've seen narcoleptics look more awake than you. I'm tired too and a few hours alone isn't going to make or break me. I lived alone for years without you."

Harvey snorted and Donna tsked.

"Only God knows how."

"You don't believe in God, so I must simply be that awesome," Mike replied with his own smirk, but his eyelids were drooping as well.

"You still suck at gloating, especially since that's hardly an accomplishment to be proud of."

"Sorry my physique isn't to your expectations, dad!"

"I've said more than once: appearance is important! I figured you'd have that phrase entombed in your brain by now."

"And now you're stalling."

Harvey glared but then it softened. "Are you sure you'll be okay, pup?"

Mike's expression also changed from the smirk to a more somber one. "Yeah. I'll be out of here tomorrow." His expression was steady but his voice betrayed him.

The lawyer could see Mike was trying to put on a brave face; he knew the kid absolutely loathed hospitals. Maybe, maybe the kid just needed some time alone to start processing what had happened. He was long overdue for his own processing and so, finally, he nodded and gave Mike a pat on the shoulder.

"All right. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. Try and sleep so that the doctor will let you out; Donna and I much prefer my leather couches to these horrid things."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Mike said and actually raised his hand up into a salute.

Harvey rolled his eyes and walked out, leaving Donna the space to finally reach the associate and plant a maternal kiss on his forehead. "You better behave, pup. You need your strength and I'm sure you'll get out of here faster the less you annoy your doctor and nurses!"

"I will, mom," Mike replied, his words only marginally sarcastic.

She gave his head one last pat and then they had left. Upon entering his condo, Harvey went straight to his room and, to her surprise, he didn't bother ducking into the bathroom and simply stood by his bed and shed everything except his boxers.

"So much for chivalry," Donna muttered, shaking her head to try to keep herself from staring.

He gave her an arched expression and said, "Chivalry's on vacation."

"I thought it was dead," Donna shot back, but Harvey had already collapsed into bed and she was certain he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Donna looked at him sleeping wistfully, but she had some work to do that she'd neglected, though it was difficult without a computer. She fished through his jeans until she found his phone. When she clicked it on, she grimaced at the more than two hundred e-mails that had collected in his inbox. Most people appeared to have been smart enough to e-mail rather than call, but it would be a while before he bothered to look through them. She scrolled through and found a few e-mails from some of his old Harvard buddies and even an e-mail from Scotty. The e-mails were all virtual echoes of each other and she jumped around only to pause on one e-mail in particular:

_Harvey,_

_Are you okay? I saw you on TV, so I know you're not hurt, but are you really okay? I've been there before. Don't hesitate to call if you want to talk._

_ -Lucas_

_Who the hell is he? _She though as she read the message again and tried to recall any moment he mentioned having a friend named Lucas; the message was far too familiar to be a client. She starred it in his inbox. Whoever this person was, perhaps he'd be better suited to helping Harvey move on over her.

She considered sending out a mass e-mail to everyone, but then she wondered if Harvey wanted everyone, including his friends – acquaintances? She knew he wasn't very close to them – to receive the same robotic message. That question would have to wait for tomorrow as she changed out of clothes – in the bathroom with the door closed – and crawled into the other side of the bed and was soon fast asleep with him.

…

…

…

_He ran through the halls of Pearson Hardman. It was dark save for a few small white lights that lit the hallway, almost like emergency lights on the floor of an airplane. Why he was running, he didn't know, but a panic like he had never felt before seemed to direct his every movement and his breath came out in harsh gasps as he sprinted, turning left at the corner. _

_ The building seemed impossibly big as he darted around corners and continued running, but the fear never abated. His heart pounded wildly in his chest and he could start feeling the burn of his lungs as he struggled forward. He had to get there!_

_BOOM!_

_He slid to a stop, his heart pounding even harder, and then he continued rolling down the hallways. The lights seemed to transform into a blur as he continued running, as though he were going faster and faster. A cry of fear broke the silence and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end: Donna!_

_He rounded a corner and slid to a stop as he saw a man, holding Donna to his side with a gun pointed at her head. _

_ "No, wait, stop," He started forward, reaching for her._

_ "Run! Run," she cried out to him._

_ "You'll get what's coming to you." He was certain the voice came from the man with the gun, but it seemed to echo around the bullpen._

_ He tried to say more, but his voice felt like it was caught in his throat, he reached forward…_

_BOOM!_

_"No! Donna, no! No, please!" _

_Donna fell limply to the floor as the man let her go. Blood dripped down her once beautiful face and he could see it pooling around her, soiling her lovely hair as it spread out. He stepped forward to, slowly to touch her, to hold her one last time._

_BOOM! _

_Pain ripped through his chest, pain like he had never felt before and he clutched at it. He couldn't see the blood, but he knew it was flowing through his fingers; his heart was now pounding, but his inhalations grew shallower and shallower as time seemed to draw out like a blade. His senses were fading from him; he could no longer see and he felt his feet and hands grow numb as the blood ebbed from his body. The sounds around him grew muted. He did not hear the gunman walk, but he knew when the gun pointed in his face and he closed his eyes in finality._

_BOOM!_

…

…

…

Harvey's eyes shot open and he flew up into a sitting position, gasping for air as though he had really stopped breathing, and he clenched his teeth as he clutched at where the wound would be on his chest, his muscles tight and the pain sharp as he felt it emanating from that exact spot. He felt a gentle hand run up his shoulder and squeeze it gently and this is what he focused on as he got his breathing back under control.

Just as he turned to look at her, lightning split across the sky and he jumped as the familiar sound of thunder rolling through the sky, sounding much like a cannon blast had been shot just outside his window. _The thunder. I was hearing the thunder when the gun fired, _he thought as the dream lingered in his mind's eye, as though the lightning had burned every detail straight into his retina.

"Are you okay, Harvey?"

There was a quality to her voice that made him glanced up and in the next lightning flash, he was surprised to see tears were dripping down her face as she stared at him desperately. It was only as he stared at her in astonishment that he felt a surprising warmth drip down his face and he brushed it away as soon as he realized what it was. He had been crying too.

"I'm fine," he replied in a smooth voice, but his eyes darted around the condo fearfully and he was even breathing a little heavier than normal. "It – It was just a dream." The pain had even started to fade away and he finally looked down to confirm that he was not bleeding to death from a gunshot wound.

"Bullshit," Donna replied and he glanced up at her with a slightly alarmed expression. "That was not just a dream. It wasn't your average nightmare. I thought you were dying! Do you need me to call for an ambulance?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Wha-what happened?"

"I woke up and I heard you breathing really hard, like you were running. I tried to wake you up but nothing seemed to be doing the trick. Then you started, it sounded like you were moaning, but then I heard you whispering words, 'No, Donna, no. Please no!'" He shuddered as she described everything, allowing the images of the dream to follow along with her description. "That's when you started crying and just as I started to shake you again you went as rigid as a board. I tried even harder to wake you up – I was shaking you – but then you just went boneless and you let your breath out, but I didn't hear you draw anything in! I thought your heart had stopped. I had just picked up your phone to call 911 when you woke up and started breathing again. Jesus, Harvey, don't ever do that again!" He saw her clench her eyes as she tried to get herself under control, but she looked about as badly frightened as he had been and he drew her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say, nearly choking on the word when it was not one normally found in his vocabulary. "I can't control the subject of my dreams or what happens, but…It was a bad dream."

"What happened?'

Harvey bit his lip. He really did not want to have to tell her. He was hardly the sharing type of person, but he was more concerned with how freaked out she would be by the contents of his dream than by simply not sharing it with her. _She's your best friend. Who's she going to tell? No one, _he answered to himself with an internal voice that even sounded dismayed at his doubt in her.

"Come on, Harvey, please! I have to know what could make your dreams that bad."

He snorted. "I'm sure you can guess the catalyst." He was quiet for another moment and then he said, "I dreamed that I was at Pearson Hardman. It was dark. No one was there, but I was running through the halls and I was…" He looked at Donna and, to distract himself from the horrible imagery playing in his head, he brought a hand up to wipe a stray tear off her face. "I was terrified. Panicked. I have no idea why I was so scared, but I was and I was looking for something. I'm not sure what."

"Then…then I heard you scream," he said and he shuddered violently, clenching. "I finally came to where you were and there was this man standing, holding you hostage with a gun to your head."

"One of the gunmen?"

Harvey shook his head. "He was faceless." He opened his mouth to speak the next part, but found it stuck in his throat, so he gritted his teeth and drew in another breath, avoiding Donna's gaze the whole time, and said, "I tried to reach you. I tried to save you but…it was too late."

"He shot you. And there was blood everywhere. I – I couldn't, I tried…" He tried to keep his voice going, but the image of her own blood flowing across her face was permanently burned into his memory. He shuddered again and Donna squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. And then he shot me. Right in the chest." He chanced a brief look at her and he thought he noticed a gleam of understanding.

"You were rubbing your chest when you woke up."

"Yes, it was painful. I actually thought I might have been shot," he admitted, though he thought it was a stupid notion. He _knew_ that he hadn't been shot and certainly hadn't needed to go to the hospital for any reason, but he had trouble letting go of the fact that he had been in severe pain. _I was dying in my sleep. I've never come close to dying before but it certainly felt like what death might be like._

"I don't think I've ever heard of a dream that killed someone."

He gave her a startled look. Had he spoke his thoughts out loud? When had he become so careless with his mouth?

"Do…do you really think that if you die in your dream, your body dies too?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "This isn't the Matrix, Donna."

"Harvey, you _looked_ like you were dying and you even said you were dying."

"I was dying in my imagination. Not really dying," he said, finally lying back down.

"Fine. Act like it's no big deal, but I know you're more shaken than you're letting on."

He sighed and sat up again, reaching for her hand and kissing it gently. "I think you're more worried than I am. It was just a dream. Come on, let's go back to sleep." He pulled her back down and securely wrapped his arms around her.

"Now look who's worried. I thought it was just a dream, Harvey?"

"I need to know you're real."

"It's not like I haven't interacted with Jessica and Rachel and Mi –"

She was cut off by a sudden kiss on her lips. It was chaste and gone so fast she actually wondered if it had happened, but could immediately tell by the look on his face in the flash of lightning that it had happened.

He nodded. "You feel real to me." He placed another kiss on the bare space between her shoulder and her neck, causing her to shiver. "Goodnight, Donna."

"Night, Harvey," she replied rather breathlessly, immediately wincing and internally berating herself that she might have

Neither one of them slept much the rest of the night.

* * *

**I know it's small, but I really needed some Harvey/Donna after that last episode. **

**Yes, my original character from my collection of short stories 'New Puppy' is going to make a cameo, but I promise it will be brief. It just seemed silly to create an entirely new character for this particular aspect of the story when I already had one fully formed.**

**From here on out, Mike should feature heavily since he's finally being discharged.**

**Thank you for your reviews and alerts, but most importantly...your patience. Can't wait 'til next episode! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: Thank you all for your feedback! I very much apologize for the long wait, but now my portfolio is out of the way and I can once again focus on this story. Woe betide, you poor folks, if I get my hands on Guild Wars 2 anytime soon...**

**As a quick reminder, this all takes place before Season 2 even starts, so Hardman is not around, but the upcoming chapters will be amended to include the new information that we learned in S2.**

** sheapunk - Well, it's a little hard for Harvey and Donna to focus on romance now that there's a kid hanging around. ^_~ Mike won't take center stage, but the story was meant to focus on _every_one's recovery, not just Harvey's.**

**I do not own Suits.**

**Chapter 10**

Mike looked over at them as they entered his hospital room and he immediately dropped the spoon he had halfway to his mouth. "Oh good, you're here! You wouldn't happen to have breakfast with you? Can we get some when we leave? They gave me porridge. Porridge! At least I think it's porridge. But, anyway, we need to get out of here! I could hear the nurses whispering about giving me a sponge bath and they winked at me – boy, you two look tired."

"With those kinds of observational skills, I can see why I hired you," Harvey replied with more than a little of his usual dose of sarcasm. He then turned to slump in the chair next to Mike's bed.

The associate eyed him curiously and seemed to be struggling to smother a grin. "Late night activities keep you aw – "

"Finish that sentence and I may have no choice but to rip your tongue out," Donna said in a low and dangerous voice that made Mike pale and shrink back into his bed. "Now, behave while I fill out your discharge papers and I may convince Harvey to make you blueberry pancakes."

"Not a chance. If he's getting anything to eat, then we'll just take him some place."

Mike clamped his jaws together so tightly it was as if someone had poured super glue into his mouth, but that did not keep his eyes from darting back and forth between the lawyer and his secretary. Donna finally left the room after giving the pup a cool stare and he turned to Harvey.

"Donna is staying with you?" Mike asked with die eyes, as though he suddenly had a revelation.

"Yes. After what happened, she didn't feel like being alone in her apartment."

"Uh huh," Mike replied with the same wide-eyed expression he had on earlier and he quirked an eyebrow at Harvey.

Harvey shook his head. "Don't even get that look on your face. Nothing exciting happened."

Mike nodded at this, but he did not seem convinced at the thought that he, Harvey of all people, could have a woman at his condo without having sex with her. The lawyer grudgingly, albeit silently, admitted the kid might have a point. Donna certainly came over several times a year for movie watching purposes and left without a single advance happening, but every single time, Harvey wished it could end with them doing something more intimate than falling asleep on the couch together. While most people saw him as a ladies man first, he foremost considered himself a gentleman and he refused to do anything less than completely consensual sex with anybody. Donna was not agreeable, so it did not happen and would never happen until she became agreeable.

"So, what did the doctor say about your wound?" Harvey broke the small moment of silence and studied the kid with what looked like a worried frown. He was awfully peppy for someone who'd gotten shot in a mass killing spree.

"They said there's little else that they can do for me here, so that's why I'm getting discharged. They told me that I have to take it easy the next couple of weeks. I can't do anything strenuous. They also recommended that I see a therapist for some sort of grief counseling. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because this is not the sort of reaction I'd expect from you after a traumatic event," Harvey said, eyeing the kid suspiciously.

"I'm alive, Harvey. You saved me," Mike replied with a bright smile. "I slept well last night. No nightmares. Is the great Harvey Specter worried?" Mike asked.

"You're right, I saved your life. So I think that naturally extends to being concerned about your welfare," Harvey replied, getting up to tower over him.

"Whoa, Harvey, are you all right? You're saying weird things."

The lawyer stared at Mike and Mike peered back at him like a child concerned for their parent. He shook his head in disbelief. He had no psychology degree, but he'd easily bet a thousand dollars that his associate was intentionally blocking the memory, attempting to dodge out of facing the reality of the situation. Normally, he would follow his number one rule, _Press 'til it hurts_, but the kid already had a gunshot wound to deal with. The psychological issues could be dealt with later and would likely be a problem best suited for a professional rather than him.

"So, really, Harvey, this is the second time I've seen you lose sleep. What's going on?"

"I thought insomnia would be a good look for me."

"Do you always have to deflect? It's okay to admit you're human; I promise I won't tell anyone," Mike said, lying back onto is bed and frowning over at Harvey, who remain slumped in his own chair.

"What are you talking about? I've had my first consecutive days off in…ever. I'm finally catching up on all the video games I've neglected. I must say, it's been…nice."

Mike's eyes lit up. "He's human after all! Does this mean you'll be more inclined to take days off?"

Harvey cocked his head in curiosity. "I never took you for someone who'd take a vacation."

"I wouldn't normally. But I could visit my grammy on days off," Mikes said with a small, sad smile.

"Hmm," Harvey grunted and he felt the first stirrings of what he thought might be guilt. _How old is Mike's grandmother?_ She had to be pretty old and in decline if she was in a nursing home. He remembered that day his dad died and he never failed to feel regret that he had never called him back. He'd taken it for granted that he would always be there. Maybe, maybe Mike deserved a few extra days off to see his grandmother. She was obviously important to him.

Harvey was brought out of his musings when he felt fingers run through his hair and he glanced up to find Donna was back.

"Hey, sleepy, it's time to go."

"I'm not a dwarf," Harvey replied, trying to sound irritated, but Donna could see a slight smile.

"You could have fooled me."

He rolled his eyes and made to stand up, only to look over and find that Mike was already dressed and being helped into a wheelchair. When did he miss this? "Was I really asleep?" Harvey whispered to Donna.

"If you were, then you've mastered the amazing art of sleeping with your eyes open."

"That would've been useful in college," Harvey muttered. He stood up and stretched with a grimace. "Ready to go, kid?"

"Do I have to leave in a wheelchair?" Mike asked, frowning in such a way that made it look like his lip was about to wobble.

Harvey grinned. "Hospital policy, Mike. You look like you're about to have a tantrum."

"I am not," Mike replied.

"Don't worry. I'll be sure to send Donna out to get you a pacifier when we get back to my condo."

Mike huffed. "Donna, Harvey's being mean!"

"Shut up, both of you, or you're grounded."

"Grounded in my own condo?"

Donna turned to him with one of her patent imperious expression and, despite her lack of stature, she still managed to look down her nose at him. "Don't think I couldn't find a way to punish you."

The lawyer raised an eyebrow at her. "Punish?"

Donna blushed very faintly; Mike stared as if he'd caught his parents having sex and the both of the nurses acted like they were not even paying attention. "Oh my God. Mike, you and I are leaving. Harvey's going into the mental ward."

"What are they going to do? Detain me for being male?"

"Specter, I can and will find a way to make your life hell. We're hungry, so let's go."

Breakfast was a quiet affair at a tiny little restaurant. Harvey did his best not to hover as Mike pulled himself out of the car and gingerly walked the half dozen steps to the door, but he did follow slowly on the kid's heels. He exchanged a glance with Donna as she shook her head fretfully.

Mike caught them. "Hey, stop worrying! I'm not made of glass."

"You look like you are. Do I really need to hover around your desk at lunch time to make sure you eat?" Donna said, putting her hands on her hips.

"No!"

"Yes."

Mike shot Harvey a glare. "I don't need mothered, Donna, I promise."

"Then don't make me worry and I won't hover," Donna replied with a stern expression. Mike nodded vigorously in agreement as they walked to a table and sat down to wait for a server.

When the food arrived, Mike stuffed himself on a big breakfast of the aforementioned blueberry pancakes and an over easy egg. Donna settled for a fruit parfait and Harvey picked at a plate of hash browns with a bacon and egg sandwich.

"Are you okay?" Donna asked him as he stirred the hash browns around. He had only taken a couple of bites out of the sandwich

"Not as hungry as I thought I was."

This time, Mike and Donna shot each other suspicious looks and Harvey glared at them.

"I said I'm fine. Just say when you want to leave," Harvey replied as he took the check from the waitress.

The next stop they made was at Mike's apartment. He argued with the both of them, but Donna and Harvey would not budge.

"Believe me, pup, you are going to stay at Harvey's condo even if I have to bound and gag you."

"You better listen to her, Mike. Have you ever known Donna to take no for an answer?"

"Fine," the associate grumbled. He made to get out of the town car, but was stopped by Donna's outstretched hand. "What?"

"You were slow getting to the dining table. How long do you think it will take to get up those stairs?"

"They wouldn't have let me out of the hospital if I was that weak."

"They let you out of the hospital because we promised to take care of you, Mike. Just let Donna go; she'll be quick."

"All right, he – " She snatched the keys from his hands and was gone before he could even finish his sentence and she was through the front door in a matter of seconds. "How does she do that?"

"She's Donna."

Mike sighed and relaxed into the seat, but he appeared troubled.

"What is it, Mike?"

"I was kinda hoping to keep some measure of privacy. I don't want just anyone searching through my stuff."

"You're assuming she hasn't already searched through it."

"Wait, what?"

Harvey just shook his head and hid his smile by looking out the window. Donna was back within a matter of minutes, hauling a duffel bag. She threw it into the back seat with them and climbed into the passenger side and they left.

...

…

…

Donna quietly made her way up the stairs to Harvey's bed. Exhaustion had once again caught up with him and he had retired to his room as soon as he stepped into his condo. Mike had still been alert and active, so she had happily joined him in his eagerness to play video games. That was three hours ago and she could see the puppy winding down from his initial excitement at being free – from the hospital, to do what he wanted, to enjoy a little downtime.

Once at the top she looked over at Harvey and studied him with a small frown. Maybe he should have been left in the psych ward after all that day. Even in sleep he did not look particularly well rested and even as she continued to stare, he suddenly furrowed his brow, shifted, and murmured uneasily.

"Harvey. Harvey, it's time to wake up," she said, gently shaking his shoulder. She jumped when he jolted and his eyes flew open. "Bad dream?"

When he had finally oriented himself, he looked at her as though he was trying to figure out how long she'd been there and then he shook his head, "I can't remember."

Donna sighed inwardly and said, "Mike and I were getting hungry."

The lawyer fell back against his pillow and stared at her in disbelief. "Is this you asking me permission to cook my food?"

Donna stared back incredulously. "Since when did I need your permission for anything? I'm telling you to cook our food!"

"I knew there was a catch," Harvey said with a mock sigh and he reached over the side of the bed to pick his khakis off the floor to put them on. However, Donna continued to stay seated on the bed. "What?"

She was quiet for a moment and then she said, "Harvey, you really should see someone about these dreams." She could immediately see him mentally retreat from the topic and his defenses latched into place. "Harvey, I looked in your phone and there was someone who offered to talk to you. His name was Lucas and he said he'd been in a similar situation before." She saw the light of knowledge appear in his eyes. "So you know who I'm talking about?"

He shifted and stared at her sulkily, but then he nodded. "Donna, our situations aren't even close to being comparable. It's like me getting my knee scraped to his broken leg. It's not necessary."

"This Lucas character doesn't seem to agree. He offered after all." Harvey just glared at her and got up to start putting on his clothes, regardless of her presence. She sighed and gritted her teeth, hoping to eventually break down the walls he so carefully built up. "Harvey, don't you remember that my minor is in Psychology? I may not be a full doctor, but I know enough to distinguish, at the very least, a mild case of PTSD. It happens to victims who've found themselves in situations like yours and it's nothing to be ashamed of!"

He just continued to glare at her.

"Would you please just talk to him once?" She asked, reaching out to grab his hand. His face softened a little at the contact and she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Fine, but you and Mike better make yourselves scarce. I don't want an audience."

"That's easy enough. Mike and I are going to get lunch with Rachel and then he's going to see his grammy."

She watched as a small smile spread across his face and he nodded knowingly. "You've already thought this through. I knew it. What day were you planning?"

"Whatever day you want."

"I'll call him and ask."

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Thank you peachmikey, bazjak, and AnAverageGirl for your feedback! It's always appreciated.**

**This chapter is on the short side, but I felt it was a scene that needed addressed before I moved on to the next chapter. I apologize in advance if the tone at all changes halfway through; my cat went missing yesterday. =/**

**Chapter 11**

Donna opened her eyes as she listened to Harvey jolt out of his sleep and gasp for air. He had not shifted restlessly as he had the night before, but this time she heard him whimper and moan fearfully. It tore at her to see him so obviously tortured but unwilling to address it. He was not stupid or ignorant – mostly stubborn – and she hoped this friend Lucas offered more compelling arguments to seek treatment.

She listened to him settle back down. The whole time she had been lying with her back to him, barely doing so much as blinking. So when she felt him shift closer to her and then start to wrap an arm around her, she thought he would be surprised by the sound of her voice. "What do you think you're doing?" He didn't so much as tense.

"Do you not approve then? If so, I'll stop."

Donna rolled her eyes. Trust him to completely dodge the question and she finally rolled over to face him. She was surprised at how close he was, making them almost cheek to cheek. She frowned up at him while he had his head in his hand looking down at her. This was not an advantageous position.

"Stop with the smokescreen. What are you doing?"

"I'm seeking comfort," he replied quietly. Even in the dim light from the moon, she could see he was serious.

"Is that all you're seeking?" He shifted, but he did not retreat. "It's a yes or no question."

She saw a muscle twitch in his cheek and then finally he said, "No."

Donna sighed. She wasn't relieved or exasperated at the confession since her own emotions warred within her. He watched her carefully and did not press for a return answer. She eventually managed to articulate one, "You think pursuing this is a good idea?"

He grimaced and, once again, took his time to answer. "I'm tired of being alone."

"If you need that kind of company, then you could always pick your choice of girls at those ritzy bars you frequent," she said to him, but she was unsurprised at the scowl that crossed his face.

"They're hardly good for more than passing entertainment. I mean, what about those guys you've dated? I don't believe for a second that your feelings for any one of them ran any deeper than a kiddie pool."

"Are you kidding me? I knew you were a narcissistic asshole, but this takes the cake!"

"Prove me wrong then," Harvey said as his eyes bored into hers.

She gritted her teeth at him, hoping to pass her expression off as anger rather than a ridiculous attempt to seem unaffected by his voice. She loved his voice. In intense moments like this, his voice seemed to thrum through her even as it retained the smoothness of the finest red wine she could possibly taste.

He was right, of course. She had actually given dating an honest effort, but every prospective man just fell flat. They had no guts. They treaded around her like she was a porcelain doll. There was no play or bite in their conversations, like when she bickered with Harvey. Most seemed a combination of spineless and patriarchal. Quite frankly, her dating life had been unimpressive and dull. Even before Harvey had entered her life, not a single person had managed to sweep her off her feet. She thought at first she was either a lesbian or completely apathetic to men.

So when she had met Harvey and had been genuinely amused and at ease with him, she had been relieved she wasn't apathetic. In the same instant, she had written him off as dangerous. Even before he was her boss, he was still her superior and it was far too easy to be charmed by the Devil. She had always been sure to keep him at arm's length. For the most part, he had respected the clear line she'd drawn in the sand, though he did have a tendency to toe it. Now it appeared he was ready to jump over.

Even as she was thinking this, she noticed that he had continued to move his hand. His fingers skated over the top of the sheet, inching along slowly across her stomach, allowing her ample opportunity to slap his hand away and in all likelihood break his nose. She remained, her hands lying flat by her side. The whole time he had allowed her to muse, he had not broken their stare and once she had come back to focus on the sensation of his hand, he could see the confirmation in her eyes. He would not insult her by voicing his correct assumption out loud. He already knew and she knew he knew it.

She watched him tempt fate. He hovered for a moment, a mere inch from kissing her and after waiting a moment to hear any objections, he finally connected. It was not a quick kiss like the night before, but he lingered on her lips. She was the first to deepen it, bringing a hand up to his cheek to bring him closer. He moaned into her mouth and just the sound of it caused a flood of warmth to travel from her core to her limbs as if her veins had suddenly been infused with lava. It was only when he slipped a hand up her shirt, inching his way to her breasts that she put a hand on him to shove him away.

"Uh uh, Harvey, I still have one question for you."

He cocked his head at her. "That would be…?"

"Why now?"

She saw his mouth quirk up in a self-satisfied smile. "Because I'm done. We're done. Senior partner was the last mountain to climb and now that we're here, where do we go now? There's nowhere else to go. I am one of the youngest senior partners in history and the most kickass lawyer in all of New York City. The only thing I have left to strive for is…you."

_We_. It brought her back five years ago when Jessica had just delivered the news to him about making partner. As cliché and silly as it sounded, she wasn't sure she ever loved him or appreciated him more than when he said to her, _"__We__ made partner."_ He actually saw her, appreciated her, especially when most rising stars in any type of business would have trod all over the little people to promote himself. He recognized that partner would have been nearly unobtainable without her and certainly not at his age as a professional lawyer.

She suddenly noticed the smile fall from his face and looked down at her in disquiet.

"What?"

"Why did you stay with me?"

"You mean as your secretary?"

He nodded. She hesitated with her answer and he added, "You practically sacrificed your own career ambitions to see my ambitions met. You could have done much better than a position as a secretary. They often suffer low wages, shitty bosses…why did you stick around?"

"It probably has to do with the fact that I didn't suffer a low wage or a shitty boss," she said and he snorted.

"I'm an asshole. We've established this. Why do you put up with me? You could have left me in the dust and I would have been able to do jack shit about it."

"I've said it before Harvey: you're a good man. You deserve to be successful in whatever you pursue. Besides, Jessica needed a return on her investment," she said, but there was very little humor behind the remark and he flinched upon hearing it. "Harvey, you've paid her back. It's a question now of whether she deserves your loyalty or not."

"I would look like the most ungrateful little shit on the planet to turn my back on her," Harvey mumbled, finally resting his head on her collar bone. "I can't believe you would approve of me abandoning her."

"We were a good team, but…I really have to call into question her reasoning for foisting that responsibility on you. You needed medical attention just like anybody else and her inability to see that just…she just used you like a tool."

"I am her second-in-command. She did what she thought was best."

"For her. For the firm. She could just as easily have picked someone else and they would have done just as fine a job, if not a little better."

"Hmm…thanks."

"As I said, you needed medical attention. No one else may have seen it, but you were phoning it in the entire time."

"I worked through my dad's death. Maybe she thought I needed something to do."

"No. A friend – even an employer's – first instinct is to give time off. She didn't ask if you wanted time off, she just assigned. I've seen better from her."

"Well, I may be done moving up the ladder, but I would like to continue to be employed…" He said, leaving the second half of his sentence unspoken.

"I'll behave," she said and he chuckled against her collar bone and he kissed it.

A comfortable silence fell over them. Donna knew almost the exact instant Harvey fell back asleep as his breathing slowed and deepened and she felt the weight of slackening body come to rest against her. She moved a hand up to lightly stroke his hair and whispered in the dark, "Goodnight, Harvey."

...

...

...

* * *

**Thank you again for reading and all reviews! I hope everyone continues to enjoy this! =)**


	12. Too soon?

**Author's Note: The title of the chapter acts double for both the chapter and a real question. Is it too soon? I want to apologize for leaving this story hanging for so long, but I finally got a job. Then, when I was all ready to update, Newtown happened. I thought it would be pretty tactless to update this anytime soon, so while I held off, I did my best to write further into the future so that I could get this story finished by the time the second half of Season 2 starts. It's not quite done, but I only have four chapters, including this one, left. I might make it.**

**I hope you continue to enjoy this fiction.**

**Chapter 12**

Harvey had one hell of a poker face but even Mike could tell he was nervous.

The call had come the day before. They were playing Monopoly and much to Mike's surprise, he was handing Harvey his ass. He didn't consider it much of a win, though, for all Harvey seemed to care. Normally the senior partner would be indignantly pointing out how the puppy still had big shoes to fill, but now he was leaning his head into his hand with the expression of a bored cat.

_When he's back to himself, we're going to replay this game,_ Mike thought as he passed Go and collected another two hundred dollars.

Suddenly Harvey's phone rang from the coffee table and so Harvey pushed away from the table in annoyance. No one gave the ringing much thought until he answered, "Jessica? What's going on?"

Donna immediately turned to look at Harvey with narrow eyes, but he didn't return to the table. The first couple days Harvey's phone had almost crashed under the onslaught of text messages and calls he had received. The texts were from concerned clients and fellow lawyers he actually was on friendly terms with, but the calls were all from reporters from every major network trying to score an interview with them. He hadn't even bothered being polite to them and they eventually realized that he was going to concede nothing.

"I said I won't do that anymore. It's barely been a week."

Mike slightly flinched. The shooting had rarely been mentioned since the associate had entered the apartment. He had originally been irritated that he was being treated like a little kid when Harvey or Donna was asking if he was doing all right, but then he noted the way Harvey tensed up when the event was eluded to. They all kept going as if it never happened. By the look on Harvey's face, it appeared that they would now have to address reality.

"I said I wouldn't be doing anything anymore. I didn't even know them! I can always act as visible support. You're the head of the firm, they'll want to hear from you!" A pause and then quietly, "Yes, we'll be there. 7:30." If Jessica had any more to say, Harvey didn't bother to listen and just tossed his phone onto the couch. His stony mask was back on as he sat down at the table. "Is it my turn then?" He threw the dice and moved appropriately. "Fuck, I'm jail again."

Neither Mike or Donna moved and simply stared expectantly. He finally sighed and said, "A memorial service is being held for the people who died. We're required to be there." From the way Harvey's eye stared off, anyone could tell he was already thinking back on that day.

Mike felt as if all the air had been punched from his lungs. Images of his formerly alive co-workers flashed through his mind. He had been lucky. He saw one person die, but he hadn't been forced to look into his face. He had heard secondhand of the other people who died. Now as he thought about it, the thought of their spaces now being void of life gave him the chills.

"It is respectful to attend. But that's not until tomorrow," Donna said, obviously trying to yank them out of the somber mood they had fallen into. "Damn it! That's $500, Mike."

The previously playful atmosphere had been ruined and since Monopoly was a game of slow deaths, they immediately abandoned it as soon as it became clear that Mike would clean them both out. For the rest of the evening, Mike buried himself in books and Harvey decided that a Star Wars marathon was in order – only the original three.

Mike's pain medication had done a decent job of knocking him out for the past week, but that night it wasn't nearly enough to drown out his thoughts, which buzzed around in his head like wasps.

Harold. Poor Harold. He'd probably been the closest person he had to a friend among the associates. Most of the rest of them were still jealous of him being Harvey's associate. Mike shuddered as he thought about Kyle. He seriously doubted he was going to miss him if the associate had left for another firm, but now it seemed wrong to feel grateful that he would never have to put up with Kyle's malicious teasing. Not even he deserved a fate like that.

Then, of course, he would often reflect on how he came close to meeting the same ending. That moment was seared into his brain with high definition clarity. For an eidetic memory, recalling the gunman's face was surprisingly difficult, but he remembered looking straight in that black barrel; he saw a long scratch on the right side of its length. He could see the way the man's hands were white with dried and cracked skin; his pointer finger's nail was chipped and yellowed with age. The man had to have been a craftsmen of some sort.

At that moment in time, his heart had felt like it had slowed to a crawl, as if it was getting ready for what he knew would happen next. The gunshot had been loud, the loudest sound in the world, so he had been surprised when pain didn't rip through him.

Harvey had swooped in out of nowhere, truly like Batman flying in to the rescue. Harvey in his dark gray pant and expensive black silk 3-piece wrestling with the bad guy. As he continued to think on it, realization dawned on Mike and he sat up so abruptly his side actually gave a twinge in spite of the pain killers; he had never thanked Harvey for saving him. He had expressed surprise at it, but never actually thanked him.

He got up and grabbed the fleece blanket at the end of his bed. Despite it being the beginning of summer, he still felt occasional chills when he sat around Harvey's apartment. Harvey's still awake, sitting on the couch, leaning against the side, his arm thrown over the back in what looks like a relaxed position if not by the way the TV had him mesmerized. This is the first time Harvey hasn't even made the effort to go to bed, but as he's seeking his comfort now – not that he would ever admit that – he's relieved to find him away from Donna.

Harvey's eyes slide to his as soon as he enters his periphery. Even as much as the last days have worn him, his poker face is absolutely masterful. There is no snarky comment about how he should be in bed, merely silent acknowledgement before he reaches for the glass of whisky on the coffee table. Mike frowns. It's one more thing that he and Donna worry about: Harvey's drinking. He's had a drink every day since, but to Harvey's credit, he still maintains impeccable hygiene, eats his meals, and drinks plenty of water and tea. It's really only at night when the bottle comes out.

When Mike sits down in the adjacent recliner, Harvey instantly leaves. The associate's protests dies on his lips because there is really no point. He does what he wants. The fact that Harvey hasn't said a word means it's unlikely that he will. These have become more frequent too, these withdrawals. Donna who can read Harvey like a book told Mike that it was better to just leave him be.

Mike just turns to focus on the movie, _The Empire Strikes Back, _where the heroes are being led through Cloud City before Darth Vader arrives. He's distracted, though, by the way Harvey is tinkering around in the kitchen, listening to a glass ring as he takes it out and the low hum of the microwave. What's he doing? After another minute, Harvey returns and sets a large glass of milk before him. When Mike reaches for it in amazement, he can feel the warmth seeping through the glass.

"Thank you."

Harvey only nods and returns to watching the movie.

In Harvey-speak, it seemed to say, _"I know you can't sleep and your painkillers don't mix with alcohol, so here's something else that should help."_ Classic caring Harvey. Mike considers making a teasing remark, but he if could correctly read the vibes that were flowing from Harvey, he was definitely not in the mood for it.

"Harvey, do you think it will ever go back to the way it was?" Mike really wasn't sure to what he was inferring: the firm, him, Harvey…

His boss glanced over at him with a slightly pained look. Then he gave the slightest shake of his head, causing Mike to deflate. He hadn't really expected a different answer. If anyone wanted the cold, unvarnished truth, you go to Harvey.

Mike was so lost in his thoughts that he barely heard what his boss said next.

"It's always changing."

Mike waited for Harvey to expound on that, but after five minutes of silence, he said, "Thank you, Gandalf, for your ever-confusing wisdom."

This at least made Harvey smile.

His associate sobered up quickly though. Finally he said, "Harvey?" When he had the lawyer's attention, he looked straight in his eyes and nodded grimly. "Thank you."

There was a moment where Harvey absorbed his words and then he slowly closed his eyes and nodded.

…

…

…

Mike could tell Harvey was nervous because he failed to bitch him out over his skinny tie, otherwise his face was the perfect stoic mask; Harvey Specter, closer extraordinaire. He could only see the tightness in his eyes or the absolute exhaustion if he was looking closely. They had finally fallen asleep around two in the morning, but both had been jolted awake around six by their own nightmares. Mike had woken up with tears streaming down his face and when he look around, he saw Harvey having what looked like convulsions. Just as he was reaching over to wake him, Harvey snapped awake with wild alarm in his eyes. The partner did not miss the remnants of his tears. They made a silent pact never to mention the incident, then Mike went to bed and Harvey stayed on the couch, under the pretense that he didn't want to disturb Donna.

As was par for the course anymore, they slept late.

Hours before their arrival, Harvey and Donna discussed what they were going to do.

"You should go separately."

"As if that will dispel any rumors. My nice clothes are at my apartment anyway. What about you and Mike?"

"I had to pick him up because God knows, I can't have him arriving on a bike. That would reflect poorly on me."

"Of course," Donna replied in a patronizing voice. Harvey scoffed, Mike smirked, and Donna winked at him.

The small bout of playfulness evaporated as soon as he and Harvey climbed into the car.

The cameras and reporters were already swarming by the time they got there. As soon as Harvey appeared, they fell on him. Word had gotten out about how Harvey had thrown himself at the gunman to save his associate's life. Donna had told him then that his reputation was henceforth ruined. After ignoring the reporters for a week, he fielded a couple of question and then cut them off abruptly when they started wandering into territory he still didn't want to address.

As much of a news commodity that Harvey was, the newsman immediately flocked to Mike once he had made his way around the car. The associate looked around at the reporters as they fired him with questions: "How do you feel after the events that happened at Pearson Hardman? Reports indicate that you were injured in the attack, can you tell us about that? Your boss saved your life; would you like to say anything about that?"

"No, please, just let me get through," Mike stumbled and stuttered. He weakly attempted to push through, flinching as the cameras flashed directly in his eyes, and he was just starting to panic that he would never get through without giving at least one interview when a loud clear voice rang out above the reporter's chatter:

"Enough!"

The crowd fell silent and turned to Harvey, who was standing over them from the steps of the church, glaring imperiously at them. Mike took the opportunity to slip through the reporters and he headed up the stairs, feeling a blush spreading across his cheeks, even as he simultaneously held his head high. "I'm sorry, Harvey." His mentor's eyes softened at the subtext: _I can't deal with the reporters._

"You'll learn, Mike," Harvey replied softly. "If you don't want to answer their questions, you don't have to."

A small weight lifted from his shoulders, tempered only by the stark fact that he would one day have to answer to the press, same as Harvey for some of his cases. As Mike trailed behind Harvey, his ears continued to burn when he felt the press watching him fade into the crowd, judging him. He was fairly certain of the thought going through their heads: _This was the associate the great Harvey Specter risked his _life_ for? _Suddenly he wasn't so sure if he would ever measure up to Harvey.

"Mike!" It took him a few moments to realize that Harvey had called his name a couple of times and was glaring at him.

"What?'

"Quit psyching yourself out."

"Huh?"

"I know that look on your face. I don't know what those reporters did, but you're starting to doubt yourself. Knock it off. There will be enough to worry about here without you fretting about whatever the reporters seemed to dredge up."

He smiled. Sometimes he'd forget that Harvey can read him. "Right. Where's Donna?"

"Haven't seen her yet, but she's here."

They stepped through the entrance and started into the crowd, which Mike was surprised to see was quite massive. There were definitely more than Pearson Hardman employees and families of the deceased. They continued to push their way to the pulpit, glancing around looking for the beacon of red hair when Mike suddenly walked right into Harvey.

"Oh, sorry, Harvey." He received no snide remark or death glare, but merely continued to stare straight ahead of them. Mike finally peered around Harvey's shoulder and he felt the air leave him. At the front were the portraits of all twenty employees who were murdered. Harold and Kyle stood out to him in particular.

Harold had a fun and easy smile, with his eyes lit up in either happiness or excitement. He may not have been the best lawyer, but he had a way to diffuse the tension in the bullpen, even at his own expense. Mike remembered the can opener incident quite fondly.

Then Kyle. If Mike had not been the subject of such malicious bullying, he would find that smile quite charming. In the hero-worship of Harvey Specter, he had a feeling Kyle would have likely gone on to many one night stands, but likely not quite as stellar a career. Still, he would have been what most people in New York call successful. Another bright future gone.

Mike could feel the sweat breakout on his palms as his mind once again began clicking through all the many paths that could have been. _Jesus, how am I still alive? Why did we have to come!? _To honor the dead, naturally but as Mike knew better than anyone, there's nothing that can be done after the fact.

Harvey didn't appear like he was doing more than taking in the setting, but he was blinking hard as though he were trying to clear an image from his mind.

"Boys," Donna's soft voice and gentle on his shoulder was enough to drag him back and he smiled at Donna gratefully. She gave a sad smile in return and tugged on Harvey's elbow.

"I'm not a boy," Harvey replied immediately, resuming the Specter persona, but Mike thought it sounded shaky.

Donna's smile was only half-hearted, unable to make a retort, and it struck Mike that she was acting differently. The somber atmosphere was getting to her and he noticed the faintest sparkle of unshed tears. "Jessica wants to see you."

Harvey seemed to have trouble looking away from Donna, who was wearing a knee-length skirt, hose, and a black velvet shorts sleeve shirt, but then he finally followed her gaze to Jessica's. Mike still puzzled over his fascination at Donna. It wasn't like she had never worn anything like it and since it was a memorial, the outfit was farm more conservative than what she usually wore. Not that Mike paid that close attention to her outfits!

Mike hung back with Donna, feeling awkward. He really wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but after the encounter with the reporters, he felt like a five-year-old clinging to mommy's skirt.

"Jessica wants me to sit with the partners," Harvey relayed to them after a quick conversation. The associate studied his boss to see if there was more behind the statement, but if there was he hid it well.

"We'll be behind you then," Donna responded and then she turned to find a seat.

A sudden touch at Mike's elbow caused him to jump.

"Sorry. I called your name, but you didn't seem to hear," Rachel said with a sad smile.

"Rachel," Mike breathed out her name and smiled. He thought about hugging her, but in such a public area – not to mention in front of the firm – the notion made his ears go red and he settled for a friendly nod.

"So, how are you doing?" Rachel started. She was the only other person outside their little group who knew he was staying with Harvey.

"Good. I still have to take some painkillers but I'm, uh, good. What have you been up to?" Mike asked.

"I'm all right. Pretty…bored."

"Miss work?" He felt a strange twinge of guilt over Rachel's utter boredom. He and Donna were, as far as he knew, her only friends and they both had been rather absorbed with his and Harvey's recovery. He made a mental note to see if Harvey would be willing to include her every once in a while in their game nights.

"Yeah, but I'm not too sure how eager I am to return either."

"I can understand that." He turned to see Donna had found her seat and wasn't paying them any attention. "Err…why don't we sit down?" No sooner had they sat next to Donna than Jessica started making her way to the podium and then everyone started following suit. The pictures were exposed again and he shuddered at the sight.

After Harvey had saved him and he was safely unconscious and numb to the world, Mike could easily distance himself from the reason why he ended up in the hospital. Even after they left, that little incident felt a million miles away and would only marginally affect him, but now he realizes the whole thing was just waiting in hiding to pounce and pop his bubble. He should have known the tranquility wouldn't last.

Mike closed his eyes and bowed his head. It was too much to watch Jessica go through with this.

…

…

…

_Why did I go through with this? _He was Harvey fucking Specter and he didn't care about decorum. He should have told Jessica that Mike was still too weak to come. She might have made some teasing remarks about him caring too much, but he'd put up with that over the flood of memories that had nearly paralyzed him. Now the lights overhead felt like they were beaming down with the power of the summer sun, making him sweat in his suit. He was actually sweating! He could feel a trickle run down his neck and under his collar. Coupled with reality of him squished between two particularly aged partners, and he was to the point where he was fighting hyperventilation. He just had to hold out until the whole thing was done. It should be no more than forty-five minutes tops.

He tried to stay focused on Jessica and obscure the memories that had pushed their way out of the darkest depths. He could see Kyle's bloodless face, the blood flowing from Harold's, he even recognized a secretary's lifeless face, and five other people who were associates he'd stumbled across. He'd seen them all on his hunt for his associate. How much did Mike see? He'd spent most of his time ahead of the gunmen and, as far as he knew, did very little backtracking that would have afforded him a look at the devastation they'd left in their wake.

He turned to look over his shoulder and found his associate sandwiched between Donna and the paralegal Rachel – sitting between two beautiful women. The lucky bastard! – and he saw that his eyes were closed and his head bowed, as if he were in prayer. Harvey was pretty certain Mike was not religious in any part of the word, so he is very likely trying to block the entire thing out if the intense look on his face was anything to go by. Mike's sleep had been mostly peaceful up to this point, but he had a feeling he wasn't going to be the only one suffering violent nightmares tonight. If he could just get through this meeting with Lucas, then he'd finally be able to put this whole thing behind him.

Harvey glanced around and up and down the rows as subtlety as he could was startled to see Louis seated five people to his right. Was he mistaken or did the junior partner look a little gaunt? Were those dark shadows from exhaustion? He briefly wondered if his exhaustion was as evident as Louis'. The man had a tendency to seek him out during a firm party, as if it were his function in life to make him miserable, but he'd only just managed to catch a glimpse of him now. So Louis was still avoiding him apparently. Not like he was going to complain, but the junior partner's behavior was an anomaly and therefore interesting.

Jessica was finally wrapping up the speech, but just as Harvey was ready to get up and head out, another person took the stand. The mother of one of the associates or so he assumed. He had to bite his lip to hide a groan. Normally he'd be gone from a function like this and Jessica seemed to be thinking the same thing, because when he looked back to the front, he found her gazing directly at him. He frowned; there was another message: _stay. I have something to tell you_.

He communicated a message of his own to her: _Make it quick._

Finally, when everyone was filing out, Harvey stood and immediately headed over to his boss. "What?"

"I must say, Harvey, if you're half as bad as you look, then maybe you shouldn't have come," Jessica started the conversation with a small shake of her head.

He tried to keep his glare from growing. Did he really look that bad? Louis bad?

"No matter, you need to pull yourself together. The firm re-opens in a week."

Harvey stared. "It's going to be ready?"

"Well, not everyone will be coming back right away. Some of the partners and you. We need to get business running and rope our clients back in. The injured, such as young Mr. Ross, will have another two weeks off.

Was he going crazy? Why did the prospect of returning to work sound so awful? He _thrived_ on work. Well, both him and Mike. He had a feeling that if this were under any other circumstance, he would be dying to go back to work. He and Donna were always the earliest ones to arrive the day after Christmas and Thanksgiving. Or maybe it was perhaps that none of his usual methods of coping had succeeded so far and the prospect of returning to work, where all the tragedy and deaths had occurred sounded like the perfect place to amplify his nightmares rather than soothe them away.

Or maybe it was because he was so goddamned strung out on his exhaustion that the thought of doing anything – let alone in the not so near future – except going back to bed sounded like a drain. Yes, that had to be it.

"Donna and I will be there," he replied and walked away.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Hello, dear readers. I have been on for about ten years with two different account and the whole time I've been here, this is only the second story I've written that managed to get over 100 reviews. Thank you for that. I very much appreciate everyone who reads and anyone who is willing to leave feedback.**

**To Guest: **Thank you for reading the story, as little of it as you have read. I read through your review thoroughly and I have a great big long post drawn up that actually answers all of your questions. Since you stopped reading at Chapter 5 and you unfortunately did not leave a name where I can make a response, it seems frivolous to post it. For the record though, half of your questions pertained to viewpoints that you don't get, which makes them automatically irrelevant and the other half are all about character interpretation. You may disagree with how Harvey is presented in this fiction and that's fine, but that doesn't mean that the story is altogether wrong or unrealistic. Harvey/Jessica/Mike/Donna/Louis are not my characters and since they have never been in such a scenario, I can only interpret and extrapolate from what I've seen as to how they would react. This is strictly interpretation, but I do my best to remain as true to the characters as I can.

**Chapter 13**

"Oh, Michael?" Donna sang once she stepped into the doorway of the guest bedroom, smiling at the sprawling associate, who still snored lightly. She couldn't help but notice the shadows under his eyes that hinted at a bad night and she almost felt sorry for what she was about to do, but she strode over to the bed, picked up a decorative pillow and gave Mike a solid whack.

He sat bolt upright. "Buh! Huh? What?"

"Rise and shine, Michael," Donna cried out gleefully. "We're going out today!"

He tried to appear something other than disgruntled. "Please tell me you've done this to Harvey."

"Every day."

"He still hangs around you? Must be love," Mike said, flicking his eyes up to her with a knowing smile.

Her smile disappeared and her eyebrows flew up. "It's 9:30. We have to leave soon."

Mike appeared to have deflated when he thought his suspicions were wrong. "Where are we going? " He was on the edge of the bed wrapped up in his sheets.

"We're going to take a walk around the city and get lunch with Rachel, and then we're going to your grandmother's." His eyes lit up and he grinned, but Donna frowned at him as he continued to sit. "Why aren't you getting dressed?"

"You don't need to watch me!"

"I've seen plenty of men get dressed, including Harvey." Her eyes suddenly lit up with enlightenment, "Oh, you sleep in the buff!"

"What? No!"

"It's okay. I'll just remember to tell Harvey to definitely clean your sheets," she said, walking out the door and closing it behind her.

Mike's face was burnt red as he removed the sheets to reveal boxers. "I'm wearing a shirt to bed from now on," he muttered. When he walked out into the condo in a t-shirt and jeans, he was immediately surprised when Harvey didn't greet him with a sarcastic remark. "Is Harvey coming with us?"

"Nope! He's meeting someone for lunch."

"A client maybe?" He asked, but he was frowning. Pearson Hardman wasn't going to be ready to return to for another week. Why would Harvey bother meeting a new client before he could do anything for them?

"Something like that," Donna replied.

"Is he already gone?"

"No, he's napping."

"Napping? He was awake earlier then?"

"Well, yeah, Harvey doesn't normally sleep in."

"He had trouble sleeping again," Mike said. There was no question mark. He had seen varying degrees of Harvey's exhaustion. He'd also woken up in the middle of the night by Harvey's screams. All he could do though was lie quietly in the dark. At first, Mike had headed out into the kitchen in the morning, ready to offer support only to be face with a stone wall. Pounding on it would only make him frustrated, so he let Harvey be, but concern for him niggled at the back of his head.

His own nightmares had gotten worse since the memorial a few days ago, but it was apparently nothing to the horrors that Harvey face. Insomnia had become Harvey's near constant companion. He just didn't understand why Harvey was having such a hard time getting past the event at least compared to him. He had some trouble with nightmares, but he can usually sleep through the night. Why? Is he just numbed to such an event because he's already had to deal with tragic death before?

"Donna…why do you think Harvey's had such a hard time with the nightmares?"

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

He was not going to be surprised if she neglected to answer. Harvey was such a private person that it was amazing to get anything as simple as his birthday out of him, but he thought they might be close enough that he could be genuinely concerned for his boss. He was living with him after all!

"When he went looking for you, he had to deal with the dead. He saw all of them. His fear for our safety has eaten away at him too."

"But we're alive!"

"Doesn't seem to matter. I know you saw him a little there before you were carted off to the hospital, but he was almost in hysterics when he went looking for me. I think he thought I was dead there for a second."

"A second. You're alive."

"A second is all it needs sometimes," Donna replied quietly. There was another silence as they ate their breakfast, but then she started again, "Remember, Mike, I'm telling you this in confidence. Don't make me regret it."

"I know," Mike replied, but there was an edge to his voice. It still seemed that she and Harvey didn't fully trust him with anything important.

"Well, don't worry too much about it, Mike. Harvey isn't going to just ignore it, despite how impossible that sounds. I won't let him. I need my beauty sleep after all." And the tension was diffused.

"Why are you sleeping with him?" Donna tilted her head at him and he winced. "I mean the bed. Sharing the bed. Uh…damn it."

"Where else do you expect me to sleep? The couch?"

"I just think it's strange that you're not going home."

"Because, as it so happens, you both are utterly helpless without me."

"That wouldn't do much for Harvey's ego."

"Please, Mike, it's like the story of his career. Haven't you heard that behind every powerful man is a powerful kickass woman?"

"I don't think the saying goes quite like that," Mike replied, downing the glass of orange juice and eating the fruit she handed him. "So, wait, when are we going to lunch?"

"In a few hours."

"Then why did you wake me up?"

"Someone's gotta carry my shopping bags."

Mike tried to remain impassive, but his smile was pained. "You've made Harvey do this too."

Donna smiled cheerfully in return. "Mike, dear, you don't even have to ask. He pays for it too."

"Ouch," Mike said in sympathy to Harvey.

Three hours later found Mike quietly wolfing down his chicken alfredo while Rachel and Donna both giggled and chatted over fashion and accessorizing. It was the only topic that could put him to sleep; he could already feel his mind shutting down. Why couldn't Harvey have come to balance it all out?

There was something about the way Donna brushed off any mention of the client meeting that made him suspicious of its true nature. Donna herself likely had one of the best legal minds at the firm and her apparent ignorance over the content meant that she had no clue what Harvey was meeting about. But Harvey told Donna everything. She knew. So what was going on?

There was really only one answer: Harvey was meeting this person for personal reasons. Since Harvey was about as open as a sealed can of tuna, it would stand that he wouldn't want Mike bugging and harping him. Donna was a distraction.

Mike felt his appetite disappear and he began to meaninglessly stir the rest of his noodles around in annoyance. It was yet another instance in a long list of them that, despite living at his condo, Harvey still drew concrete lines between the two of them.

It had been over a year! Mike could see over the course that the prickly hardass Harvey Specter was quickly being replaced by an exasperated older brother of sorts. The jokes and the movie quotes would fly thick and fast in the late hours of their day when they were at work.

Mike had to admit that Harvey had a nigh flawless poker face and deadpan, but lately he'd been seeing the man's eyes crinkle a little bit more in amusement and there was the slight uptick of his lips in a smirk. He thought they were at a point where they could start trusting each other with secrets.

Well, Harvey trusting him with his secrets. Harvey already knew all of his and it seems he had been mistaken about their level of trust. So who was he meeting about his nightmares? A therapist? Did he think his associate would laugh at him for having to actually partake in therapy? Whoever it was, he didn't see the big deal about keeping it from him.

"Mike? Hello, Mike?"

"Hmm?" He turned to Rachel after she waved a hand in his face.

"I asked, how are you feeling?"

"Good," he replied with what he hoped was his usual level of enthusiasm. "Still sore but good. I should be able to live on my own next week."

"Only if the doctor signs off on it."

"Donnaaaa! I can take care of myself."

"Doctor's orders," Donna replied with a shrug, but she didn't look sorry at all.

…

…

…

When the knock came at the door, Harvey wasn't entirely sure he was ready. But even as he stalled a few seconds to think it over, his guest was relentless.

"Let me in! I bear food."

Harvey rolled his eyes and opened the door on an entirely far too cheerful Lucas Klein beaming at him with bags of food.

"Well, are you going to let me in?"

The senior partner eyed the bags. "What's in there?"

"Lasagna."

"I want Chinese."

"Then let me in and I'll order it," Lucas replied with a roll of his eyes. When Harvey continued to hesitate, he received an exasperated expression in response. "Harvey, I'm not leaving until I talk to you, like you wanted."

"You can only talk if you can get in the door."

"I am a trained Navy Seal. You really want to take your chances with me?"

Harvey sighed and opened the door to allow Lucas into the confines of his apartment and the man in question strode through like he belonged there, beaming out at all the light pouring into the windows.

"Wow, your apartment is kickass. I love all the natural light you get up here."

"You come here to just gawk?"

"Of course not! I came here to eat. A banana for breakfast just doesn't do it for me."

"So did you drive up today?"

"Yep, just for the day."

"Are you okay to do that?"

Lucas gave him a sideways look. "For Christ's sake, Harvey, I've been out of the hospital for three months now. I think I can manage a little drive."

"How's your recovery going?"

"Slow as hell. Spending a month in a hospital really takes it out of you. The regular training regimen for a Navy Seal is a bit much for me, or so the doctor says, so he's got me in physical therapy and power yoga. My abs were killing me after the first day."

"Can you still box?"

"Yes, but I'm not letting you divert us to the gym. That's not why I'm here."

"I haven't exercised much at all in the last week."

"I'm assuming you usually do?"

"Yep."

"Try to get back into it. Routine is always good, but first let's tackle your sleeping problems."

Harvey glared at him. How did Lucas know he wasn't sleeping well? He hadn't said a thing about nightmares, but the kid was smiling at him imperiously, as if nothing could get by him.

"Can I at least eat first?"

"Sure. What's your favorite Chinese place?"

"I'll take the lasagna."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll have Chinese tonight."

"Suit yourself."

As they dug into the lasagna Lucas dished out, Harvey continued to pry. "You said recovery was slow? So what have you been doing?"

"Lots of different stuff. Training the horses, sketching, writing, long walks along the beach, playing my violin, playing my guitar, watching movies, playing video games I've missed out in the last seven years, applying and being accepted to Harvard. Yep, you heard right. Harvard."

"Which class?"

"This fall."

"Pulled some strings, did you?"

"Yep, not ashamed to admit it. I'm twenty-four. I really don't want to waste any more years of my life getting in the legit way, even knowing that I can. I need something other than hobbies to keep me occupied."

"You have a bachelor's degree."

"Big deal. A bachelor's degree is pretty much my family's equivalent of a high school diploma. My dad doesn't care."

"So are you going to Harvard med school then?"

Lucas scowled, a warning sign that Harvey was crossing into dangerous territory. "I used my family's contacts to get in because education is important to me and not just my family. The similarities end there. I'm going to law school."

Harvey couldn't quite hide his surprise. "Do you actually care about the law?"

"Certainly. I've even had to do a fair amount of peddling in it for the company, the Navy Seals, and copyright issues. A more extensive knowledge of the law will come in handy."

"I'll talk to Jessica and see if I can get you a job."

"Thanks, Harvey, but you really don't need to do that. I can manage."

"Maybe I want you for my associate. A military man with a Harvard law degree is a rare prize."

"I'm sure it is. You done?" Lucas practically stole his plate from him when he nodded assent and placed them in the sink, before coming down to sit in front of Harvey with an intense expression that screamed he would not put up with any bullshit. "Now, tell me what's happened since the shooting?"

"Nothing. My associate got out of the hospital a few days after the event. We went to a memorial a few days ago and that was…" Harvey stopped in mid-sentence looked at Lucas before finally nodding and saying, "boring."

"I haven't been to a service that wasn't personally connected to me, but I would imagine that to anyone who didn't know the person in question then, yeah, it would be boring." Lucas tilted his head, "Did you think I'd think less of you? You don't care what people think."

"There are some social lines that even I won't cross."

"Doesn't matter to me. Feel free to vent." After a moment of silence, Lucas asked, "Is there more?"

"No, not really. We're heading back to work next week."

"How do you feel about that?"

Harvey grimaced. "What are you, my therapist?"

"You brought it up, so it must be significant."

"Did you take advanced Psychologist classes? Knock that off!"

"Sorry," Lucas said softly, giving him a pained smile, "I've learned some tricks from my CO."

"I'm glad to be going back to work, because then I can try to get back to the way things were."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "That's not going to happen."

"Getting back to routine?"

"Routine is good. Getting back to the way it was before, before you suffered, is not going to happen. You can try to ignore it all you like, but it won't work. Then you can never move on." Lucas cocked his head and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Harvey. "There's something deeper at work here."

"You think so, Dr. Phil?"

"You can drop the sarcasm; it's merely a defense mechanism." Harvey gave him an exasperated expression. "Told you, I learned some tricks."

More silence.

"I can spend all day here, Harvey. I'm rich. I have nothing that I need to get back to."

Silence.

"I can try to guess."

Harvey sighed. "I knew this was a bad idea."

The man refrained from pushing his buttons, but he was smiling expectantly at him.

Finally, Harvey took a breath and said, "I shouldn't be like this."

"What do you mean?"

"This thing has just…screwed me up." There was a pause in which neither of them said anything. "I can't get over that my associate was almost murdered in front of my eyes. I can't seem to stop dreaming about…his murder. My murder. Donna's murder. My colleagues' murders. I didn't even know those people!"

"You don't have to, Harvey. I know you downplay all 'weak' emotions, but empathy is a part of human nature and it's best that you accept that, so you can move on."

"Why is this bothering me so much? It shouldn't! I got out, my assistant got out, my associate got out. That's all that matters," Harvey replied, leaning back in his leather chair with his hands behind his head. "Not like I went through a warzone here," Harvey mumbled so quietly, his friend almost didn't hear.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Nothing"

"Quit bullshitting me, Harvey. You just tried to compare your brief experience with my seven year military career."

"Exactly. It's nothing compared to what you've been through."

"You mean, when you signed your contract to work at Pearson Hardman, the fine print read, 'Expect to be shot by crazed clients?'"

"Obviously not."

"Which is why you cannot compare the two! When I woke up every day for seven years, there was always a decent probability that I would be shot at, that I could die. That was a part of my contract. You don't go into the military expecting complete safety."

Harvey just stared at him with an unidentifiable expression.

"You work in an office building. That is the _last_ place I would expect a shooting to take place, let alone a massacre. I can't even imagine the shock you've been going through having to process a reality like that. You should have been perfectly safe." Lucas' eyes seemed to fade out to a different time and he shuddered violently before shaking himself back to the present. "I can't tell you how scared I was when I heard gunmen shot up Pearson Hardman." There was a moment as he swallowed audibly and when he looked at Harvey, the senior partner swore he saw tears in his eyes. "I'm glad you're alive."

"I have to admit, I'm a little surprised you aren't going to tell me to not do anything stupid in a situation like that."

"You did what you thought you had to do. Even without a gun at my side, I would have done the same thing."

"You were a Navy Seal. You were trained in hand-to-hand combat."

Lucas snorted. "Without armor and without a weapon, it would be a very high probability that I'd die before I manage to disarm even an amateur. You were very lucky to live after that, but it was worth it?"

Harvey did not answer but seemed to be in deep thought, so Lucas let him be for a time.

"What are you doing for treatment?"

"Keeping busy, just like your plan."

"And you were belittling me for it."

"You have a choice. I don't."

"What?"

Lucas took a moment to answer, but then he chuckled and said, "The military likes to keep its secrets."

"So you can't…?"

He nodded.

"So what are you doing?"

"I talk with my CO a lot. He's not perfect, but he's better than nothing."

"I am not a guy who would go to a therapist."

"You really should give yourself the treatment you deserve, but if you insist...talking to just…anybody will help."

Harvey sighed in exasperation, but nodded. "Any other recommendations?"

"A cat? They really are good stress relievers."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I don't like animals and I'm too busy."

"You make time for them if you really care. I credit my cat with saving my life."

"Really?" Harvey couldn't keep the disbelieving look on his face.

"When a cat is all you have for a friend at home then, yes, it's pretty important. If you do go the cat route, make sure it's not a bitch."

"You mean like yours? I'm not getting a cat, but it would know who's in charge."

"Spoken just like someone who's never owned a cat."

* * *

**I am sorry to say I will not have this done by the half season premier, but I am doing my best to make sure this is wrapped up within the next week or two.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: I managed to get this up before I had to go to work. Awesome.**

**Just as a reminder, I posted this before season 2 began so everything that's going on in Season 2 has not happened yet in this fic's particular universe.**

**Chapter 14**

Something had changed with the puppy.

He had been in decent spirits most of the morning, despite being dragged out early and forced to carry her bags. She could easily pinpoint the shift over lunch, much as he tried to hide it. Whatever he stewed over in that big brain of his had left him in such a sour mood that even a visit with his grandmother hadn't suffocated whatever was on his mind. The backseat of Ray's car really didn't lend itself to a thorough conversation, so she would address that when they were back.

And she was a little preoccupied with Harvey.

It was useless to speculate, she'd find out in five minutes, but she was anxious – no, never anxious, merely curious – to see how Harvey was doing after meeting with his mysterious friend. There had been very little improvement since that day. He'd put on a good show of being his usual self – or as normal as he can get without work – but behind closed doors he was solemn and contained.

Upon entering the condo, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but there was no Harvey. The only indication that Harvey had even left the bedroom was a glass of water sitting out on the island, beaded with condensation. Donna immediately headed up the stairs, but as soon as she looked around, she hesitated. She could see him sitting out on the patio out from his bedroom looking out over the city.

She finally moved softly over to him, holding her breath as her flats quietly clicked the floor with every step. She should have taken them off! Finally, she found herself standing in the doorway, not more than a few feet from him.

And then he spoke, "Have a good time?"

"Damn it, Harvey! Don't startle me like that."

He turned to peak an eye at her and struggled to smother a smile, "My senses are always on high alert like Spiderman's."

"Oh, please. It took you five years to realize I could listen in on your conversations through the intercom."

"That was once!"

"And I will never let you live it down."

"Of course not. So, how was your afternoon?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Harvey Specter? My boss would never engage in small talk."

"I think I have the right to know how you spent my money."

"No, Harvey. Our deal was that you'd get to see how your money was spent when I wore it to work."

There was a moment of silence. "Yu took the puppy to a strip club, didn't you?"

"He really needs to get out and see the world."

Harvey snorted. "I can't argue with that." But then he raised an eyebrow, which was an indication to drop the joking.

"Great! I have a couple of new blouses, a new pair of shoes, that Tiffany's necklace I've been eying, and I bought the puppy some new ties."

"Not skinny, I hope."

"I picked out good colors, but he insisted skinny."

Harvey sighed. "He is still a puppy, but I will wean him from those damn things before he becomes a big dog."

"I will enjoy watching you try."

Through almost the whole conversation, Harvey spoke to her with his eyes staring off into the horizon, but now he stood from the chair and turned to her and reached out a hand to touch her wrist tenderly, pulling her closer.

"Harvey," Donna said, trying to sound a warning, but she did not resist as he led her back to his bed and soon he was lying over her, planting kisses on her lips.

"You made that easy," he murmured.

"I have an excellent line to your groin. I can end this just as easily."

He smirked and leaned in for a longer kiss and then he switched it up by planting multiples kisses on her face and she sank into it, closing her eyes. Then she opened one eye and asked, "What brought this on?"

"We're alone."

"You mean like every other night?"

He gave her a sideways look. "We can't do anything! Innocent ears right down stairs."

"I'm sure Mike's heard worse in that crappy apartment of his."

"Come on, Donna, don't play stupid. It doesn't suit you." Since the first night he'd made it clear he was interested in more than just friendship, they had made a silent pact to not even touch each other to keep Mike from finding out.

"He's already suspicious."

"So is everyone else, but my private life is just that, private," Harvey grumbled as he rolled onto the other side of the bed.

"I know. I think it's a good idea to keep this hidden for a while," Donna replied, squeezing his hand affectionately before she got onto her feet. "We better get downstairs before he really gets suspicious."

"Not the first time we've napped together in the day."

"Well, he's prying more than usual. Come on! You should really make the effort to mingle every day."

"No arguments here. I'm sick of being here. I think a trip to the gym is in order. What?" Harvey asked as she looked at him strangely.

"I don't know what that friend of yours did, but I may have to bake him my world famous chocolate chip cookies."

"You don't want to do that; he'll think you hate him."

"I swear to God, Harvey, you will be couch-bound for eternity if you make fun of my baking again."

He just snorted and started for the steps.

"Harvey?" He turned. "What did he do?"

He shook his head with a sad smile. "He reminded that I'm only human."

"Okay, I know you have a tendency to forget, but what does that mean?"

"Therapists can only pretend to know. Navy Seals do know," he elaborated.

Just as he began heading back down the stairs, Donna said, "Oh, Harvey? Mike's in a bad mood. Watch your step."

"Probably because you almost broke his back with your shopping bags."

She put her hands on her hips, "It was only three bags!"

"Have you seen how skinny he is?"

"All right, that's enough. He is seriously annoyed, so don't go making light of his concerns."

"Well, what happened?"

"I'm not sure. He seemed cheerful all the way up until we had lunch. Then, well, Rachel and I talked…shopping."

"…leaving him to stew," Harvey finished with an annoyed look.

"Well, I haven't talked to Rachel since the hospital!"

Harvey shook his head and started down the stairs again. "He would have found a way to make himself miserable."

She followed. "Not even his grandmother could cheer him up."

"Sounds serious."

She scowled and smacked him on the back of his head as he went down. "You've returned rather suddenly; not sure if I like it."

"A single conversation didn't magically cure anything. He just kind of…put everything in a different perspective."

Donna decided to let the rest go. She was too happy seeing him act like his usual self instead of the somber, lifeless person from just this morning. Now to tackle Mike.

The associate in question was slumped on the couch, staring at some show on TV with an expression reminiscent of Harvey's usual stoic mask, but it looked more stony than stoic.

"Have a nice visit with your grandmother?" Harvey asked as he passed the couch and into the kitchen. Though Mike didn't turn to see it, the closer had a knowing expression as he took a sip from the glass of water that had been out previously.

"Fine," Mike replied in a nonchalant voice, but there was a certain curtness to it. Silence followed then he turned to Harvey and asked, "How'd the client meeting go?"

"It wasn't a client meeting. Strictly personal."

"What was it about?'

"That's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know."

"Fine then, you don't need to hear about grammy."

"Whatever, kid, I don't care."

"Really? Because you forced me to ditch Trevor. You know everything about me and yet I know next to nothing about you."

"I know everything about you because you told me everything, so that I'd be better able to protect you. You don't need to know anything about me."

"You don't trust me. It's been nearly a year," Mike's voice grew dark and quiet.

"I trust you to do your job." When this didn't get a reaction out of Mike, he said, "It's not easy winning my trust. You still have a ways to go."

"Hah!" Mike's laugh was cold. "More like never, right Harvey? I mean, you made Donna drag me out so I wouldn't distract you over whoever you were meeting. So sorry I'm such a nuisance."

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, I didn't want Donna there either," Harvey said, his voice still measured but his expression was growing less pleasant. "Attack me all you want, Mike, but leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with my plans."

"Oh of course. Not like you scheme behind everyone's back."

"Michael James Ross – "

"No, Donna, let him get it out of his system. For your information, Donna doesn't know jack about the meeting I was in or even who I was meeting."

Mike turned back with a disbelieving glower on his face. "Is that true?" He asked of Donna.

"Yep. Harvey wouldn't tell me anything."

"Because she didn't need to know. That was my battle and I didn't want either of you around." Mike was quiet but some of the fire had left him. "Now, you can accept that, or you can't, but drop the attitude. I'm actually feeling good for once and I'd hate to ruin that. I'm going to the gym; I'll see you this evening."

…

…

…

"Wow, Harvey, you suck at this game," Mike said, not even bothering to hide his fits of giggles.

"I do not. I'm purposely doing this. Damn it!"

"I believe you. Really, I do."

"Shut up," Harvey replied, but there was no real force behind it as he struggled to keep his face straight.

"Oh my God, are you going to fight every single one of these guards?" Donna groaned as she watched with utter boredom painted on her face.

"This is the third contingent of guards!"

"No, I'll make this kill. Just watch me, I'll make it."

"We've been watching you for the last twenty minutes. You're about to get your controller privileges taken away."

Harvey shot Donna an annoyed look. "I'll get it done. It's been a while, all right?"

"I think you just like rampaging through a bunch of guards."

"Not really. Combat sucks," Harvey grumbled as he tried to get the character to run. "No! Up the wall! Don't jump off of it."

"The controls are a little sticky," Mike agreed.

"Excuses. Hurry up and make your assassination!"

"I'm going. Now the scholars can get you into places, right?"

"Yes."

"Oh holy hell, those Goddamned beggar women!"

"Okay, I can sympathize killing them but, Harvey, the guards!"

"Yeah, yeah, I see them." After a couple of minutes of running through the ancient town, Harvey finally found a haystack to hide in. "There, see? I can do this without fighting an army of – hey!"

Donna had reached over and yanked the controller out of his hands and he scowled at her.

"I gave you one more chance and you blew it when you killed that beggar woman. Now it's _my_ turn to kill."

"Fine, I'll let you have the controller, but I'm doing the next kill."

"I think you used up your chances. Mike gets the turn next," Donna said, her eyes focused on the screen as she watched the character climb the building. There was a guard perched on the roof and she narrowed her eyes in challenge.

Harvey smirked and said, "I'm eager to see how you – " In one swift movement, she climbed up and leapt onto the back of the guard, using her wrist blade to kill the guard. Donna smirked as she ran across the roof and threw a knife at the guard across the way.

"This is how you get it done, fellas."

They stared at her in undisguised fear.

She continued dispatching the guards swiftly as she ran the character to the intended target and it wasn't before long that she was scaling the very building to reach the target.

"I think Donna's the modern assassin of her day. Watch out or she'll stab you in the back," Mike said, leaning away from her in the chair he occupied.

"Mike, that's hardly news. Except she kills you with information, not an actual knife," Harvey replied, glancing over at Donna with a mixture of pride and wariness. Just then the doorbell rang and they all glanced toward it. "Must be the pizza," Harvey muttered and he reached into his back pocket for his wallet as he stepped over to the door. He started when he opened it, because it wasn't the delivery guy.

"Louis," Harvey said in a quiet voice, not quite believing his eyes.

The junior partner was standing in front of him, but he was unlike how Harvey remembered him. His hair, what little of it he had, was disheveled, his skin was waxen, and he started at the ground with his hands in his jacket pockets, as though he didn't quite dare to look Harvey in the eye, something that he had never been afraid to do before.

"Hi, Harvey," he said. To his credit, his voice wasn't much different from what it used to be.

Louis looked so downtrodden that treating him like an annoying fly would feel akin to kicking a hurt puppy. Besides, Louis_had _been there with him helping associates even as bullets were still flying, which is far more admirable compared to the rest of the partners who just hid under a conference table.

Finally, Harvey asked, "What are you doing here?" The junior partner didn't seem in a hurry to speak. Harvey shifted and was just about ready to shut the door on him when he answered.

"My parents just…don't understand. They can't understand. I don't – I can't be around them any longer. Can I just crash here for the night? Please?" Louis actually lifted his head to meet his eyes and gave him a rather pathetic look.

Harvey grimaced. "Please never look at me with an expression like that again," he replied but it lacked the usual force. He turned to look over his shoulder at Donna and Mike who were still absorbed in the Assassin's Creed video game. They seemed to tolerate Louis better than he did. After the hellish day they'd been through together, he was a bit more willing to allow Louis in and especially after Louis actually did the courageous thing rather than the cowardly one that he would have previously expected of him.

With that he stepped back and opened the door wider. The junior partner hesitated and then he stepped in, looking around the apartment with reverence as if he had always dreamed of actually being allowed in here.

Harvey flinched at the reaction; he really hoped he didn't come to regret this.

"Where's that pizza, Harvey? I'm star – Louis!"

Donna abruptly turned from the TV to stare at him like Mike. Louis didn't seem at all surprised to find them here.

"Hi," Louis replied and then awkwardly went over to the second recliner and sat down.

"Hey," Donna replied quietly. "Hanging in there?"

"I'm fine."

Mike seemed utterly lost as to how to talk to him and finally he just nodded and shrugged at Louis and returned to the game. The living room was unnaturally quiet for a few minutes. Even after the pizza finally arrived, no one said much of anything. When Louis did not join in the meal, Harvey sighed and finally said, "You don't have to sit and starve over there. You look like you could use food."

Louis came over and wrinkled his nose at the selection of stuffed crust cheese and then also pepperoni. "Not exactly my favorite flavors…but I'll live," he hastily amended as he saw Harvey roll his eyes.

"It's my turn again?" Harvey said as he took a swig of his beer.

"I'm not sure you should be allowed the controller back," Donna said.

"I was goofing around. I can do better than that."

"Uh huh."

The rest of the night was spent with Louis hanging in the background, merely watching the game they were playing. One of them would occasionally glance at him as though only just remembering he was there, but each time he made no comments and in fact acted like he didn't notice. Mike tried to persuade him to play once, but Louis just shook his head and Harvey looked displeased at Mike for asking.

They only called it quits when even Donna started having trouble getting through the high alert areas.

Harvey followed Donna up the stairs to his bedroom and groused, "Can I kick him out? Otherwise I have to couch with him."

"Harvey, let him have a night away from his parents. We can sleep together for years to come. You can stand a night near him."

"Damn it," he whispered. "I should have shut the door on his face."

"Well, you didn't, because you respect him for not cowering."

"It was an anomaly."

"That's quite an anomaly. Now quit whining and get your damn pillow and blankets."

Harvey sighed, "I think it's about time I move."

"Move? From your windows and your private elevator."

"I really do not want Louis dropping in every weekend like we're friends."

"Harvey, he's clearly known your address for a while and didn't bother you."

"Because I gave him no reason to bother me. Now he's going to be insufferable."

"You really know how to turn a girl on with all this whining." Harvey only scowled at her.

Louis jumped when he was hit with a folded up blanket.

"I don't have any more pillows, so that will do."

"Thanks, Harvey."

"Don't thank me. I swear, I will smother you if I hear you snore."

Louis eyed him as he set up his own bed and collapsed on it in exhaustion.

* * *

**Should be just one more chapter left. I will do my best to get it done this week. Thank you for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: This is the last chapter. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this fic. My next project will be to finish up my two-parter in 'New Puppy' and it's up in the air whether I'll write anything after that.**

**Chapter 15**

Mike stared up at the monolith that was Pearson Hardman. Even though he had still had his job there, it was a surreal feeling returning to a building he hadn't see in three weeks.

Harvey had returned to work a week and a half ago and he had come back quieter than usual. The day after that, Mike returned to his apartment and the only one who had bothered to ask after his welfare was Donna. Since he had been injured, he'd been giving almost two extra weeks to recover, so Mike had taken the opportunity to visit his grandmother daily and that had helped him clear his mind and even occasionally forget why he'd been afforded such an opportunity to give her company.

Real life was back now and he was surprised to find the desire to bury himself back into work was warring with the apprehension of what he'd see upstairs.

He finally walked through the doors, finding the people coming and going like it was any normal day. He found the elevator entrance on their floor tiled in brilliant white as always, but the previously dark brown walls were now painted a dark blue. When he finally started out to the associate's bullpen, he ran into fresh carpet and the irritating smell of carpet glue. Donna had said it was noxious.

Walking into the bullpen was like walking into a new world. While the carpet was new and uniform throughout the building, the vacant chairs glared at him with the absence of people that should be there. He could easily see Harold spinning back and forth in his chair while chewing on a pen. He could see Kyle in the cubicle that was across from his, glancing up and then sneering condescendingly as though everyday he couldn't believe Mr. Nobody Mike Ross was allowed to step foot into the firm. Then he'd share a knowing look with Greg and that was the moment they'd start planning the ways they could harass Mike today.

The most unnerving part was that Greg was actually seated at his cubicle and he did not fail to give him that look of disdain that was this time sparkled with something akin to anger. He shivered at the onslaught of hallucinations mixed with reality and he quickly deposited his bag at his desk. Harvey had mentioned to him that Greg hadn't been very happy that he had fled the bullpen, but it was one of the few things Mike had no second thoughts about. He did not regret leaving, but he did regret not encouraging other people to leave.

As he headed towards Harvey's office, he actually shook his head trying to rid himself of the mental images. Harold and Kyle were dead, he told himself, but even as an overwhelming sadness enveloped him, the lingering hallucinations were starting to creep him out. This was the disadvantage of having a memory like his.

"Hey, Mike."

He jumped a little at the quiet voice and was surprised to find Rachel had been walking toward him.

"Welcome back," she replied, but her smile was strained. "You must be doing well."

"Yep, I, uh, feel perfectly fit. I dumped my babysitters over a week ago."

"Watch who you're calling a babysitter, Michael Ross."

This voice came behind him and he jumped and cowered as he turned to find the ever formidable Donna had snuck up behind him and was staring down her nose in mock imperiousness.

"Hi, Donna. You were an awesome babysitter. I can't help but miss your cooking now," Mike replied, giving her his patent puppy eyes and her expression softened.

"All right, enough with the googly eyes. Harvey is still expecting you in his office by…right now."

"I'll catch up with you later, Rachel," Mike said and he continued on his way. It was much easier going down these hallways because he hadn't actually been over this way on that day and he felt even better when he walked in on Harvey playing catch with himself.

"Knocking. Ever hear of it?" Harvey said to him in way of greeting, barely casting a glance at him.

"I already got pre-approval from Donna to come in," Mike replied as the secretary passed him to sit down in her own cubicle.

She looked at him, ready to retort, when Harvey said, "Never mind. It doesn't matter. You need to go over this contract and find the loopholes."

"Too good to be true?"

"It's subtle, but yes. They tried to hide it in an old-fashioned good deal, but when my client expanded on the promises that were made to him, it was suspicious enough to look at much more closely. I want your report this afternoon."

Mike frowned at him. "This afternoon? No impossible deadlines, like, 'You better hand it to me before lunch and then I'll bury you in bylaws?'"

"It's only your first day back; I can ease you back in."

"Donna threatened you, didn't she?"

"She'd never get my coffee again," Harvey replied, his scowl settling on Donna who pretended to obliviously type away.

"Thanks, Donna, for having my back," Mike said as he passed her to return to his cubicle.

He was back barely ten minutes later.

"You get so much natural light in this office. Mind if I work here? The lighting in the bullpen is bothering me."

Harvey stared.

"Funny how you've been able to work an entire year in that bullpen and not cared about the lighting before," the closer said with raised eyebrow and a pensive frown.

"My eyes are sensitive to the light sometimes."

"You mean sensitive only now?"

"You scared me before."

_Somehow I seriously doubt that,_ Harvey thought as Mike went over to the couch to spread out the files on the coffee table. It was quiet again for the first five minutes.

"It will get better, Mike."

His associate sighed and leaned back, staring out the window with a vague sort of sadness. "I know," he finally said.

The rest of the day was spent in Harvey's office, with the senior partner only occasionally speaking to Mike to assign him more work and then Mike would accept it and try to hide a grin as Donna would turn around to glare at Harvey, who merely scowled back. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get back to where they were after all.

* * *

**Thank for reading and reviewing. =)**


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